Thousand of chances...

     There is a flight of steps leading out my garage door and upper patio down to my main lower patio, built about 1973.  I estimate that I go down and back up those steps three times a day for 200 days a year.  So, since 1973, I negotiated those steps--without once falling on my face--about 54,000 times.  In early August, I was walking up them, carrying my tripod with my very good camera attached.  I stumbled on the top step, falling forward and trying to stay upright.  Finally, I reached the garage door and grabbed hold of the door jamb, face and camera remaining unbroken.  I said to myself, "That's it, I'm putting in a railing!"  So I did--as I did at nine other places around my gardens.  Why I did not do so in the most frequently used steps is beyond me.