Frogger vs. Whack-a-mole

I was walking home after a dinner function last night and made the unwitting choice between a game of frogger vs. whack-a-mole.  I believe I've mentioned that crossing the street is interesting here.  You really just have to dive out into the middle of the street and take your chances.  I thought about going back to the office and getting my computer, but that meant crossing three streets in the dark with a huge black coat.  So I figured it could wait until Saturday morning.  What I didn't realize was that by skipping the game of frogger, I ended up with a high-stakes game of whack-a-mole.

In the busier parts of the city, you'll get a few street lights and regular sidewalks.  That, however, was not on my way home.  Now, I have walked part of this route in the daytime so I didn't really think about it.  What I hadn't considered were just how many manholes there were on my side of the street.  You may recall, that people live in the manholes here (it's really a matter of survival with the cold, I can't blame them), but last night was a warm night (-15) and everyone was feeling a bit of spring - including those in the manholes.  Most of them had the covers off (figured that out when I almost stepped into one uninvited) but at least three times on my walk home (around 8 - 9 blocks) I had not one, not two, but three separate heads pop up just when I got to the manhole.  Seriously - I don't think it could have been choreographed better.  I'm sure that my yelping scared them more than they scared me - but next time I may just go with a game of frogger.