I still have a scar on my left elbow from such an adventure. :-)
See? Every guy has one of those stories.
Back in the mid-sixties, I wanted a skateboard, but...that wasn’t gonna happen. So I took my sister’s metal roller skate, separated it, hammered both sides flat then screwed one at the front and one at the rear of a piece of a board.
We were using a downhill section of sidewalk and putting cans and stones in the sidewalk to use as an obstacle to skate around. The problem is, the skateboard was so primitive with limited capability, and the sections of the sidewalk were not even, so when those metal wheels hit the seam between two sections and the one you approach was higher...the skateboard would just stop.
I fell, and fell, and fell, ripping flesh off of my elbows, until the last time I wiped out and hit the pavement with such force and so painfully that I think I screamed at the top of my lungs for about 30 seconds out of pure frustration and pain.
Hahahahahahaha! The infamous splintering plywood ramp!
Heh, for other kids, I am sure they could look and say “That ain’t gonna work!”
But to me, I was absolutely surprised every time it failed, which made the collisions with trees, fences, the ground, and other kids all that more painful. I could never, ever prepare myself in advance for failure, so I was always “unexpectedly” hurt!
As an adult, I realize now I simply couldn’t think 60 seconds into the future to consider what it might hold should something go wrong.
Now, as an adult, when I hold that small screw over a carburetor throat, a voice says “Ummm...you should probably put a piece of tape or something over that in case you drop the screw...”
In the past, I was always astonished to see that screw slip out of my hand and disappear into that dark bore!