Lee Walters can laugh about it now.
Last Thursday afternoon, when she was thrashing around while submerged in slime and ditch water, was another matter.
The 73-year-old was walking her two little dogs, Nico and Ginny, with a friend on Gibbons Drive – just east of Westminster Highway and No. 1 Road – when Nico slipped his collar and made a B-line for a dog in a nearby garden.
What Nico didn’t see, due to about three feet of unkempt grass and weeds, was the five-foot deep drainage ditch that runs in front of many older detached homes in Richmond.
The tiny 10-year-old Pomeranian-terrier cross duly disappeared into the ditch and was flailing around, paddling from side to side in a vain attempt to get out.
“I reached down to try and grab him, but then I fell in,” laughed Walters, adding that there was about two feet or so of ditch water.
“It was a straight side. I had no grip. My friend offered to help, but I was afraid we would both end up in the ditch.
“I was submerged, flat to the ground, for a moment or two. Although it seemed like longer.
“It was so slimy and muddy, it was really difficult to get to my feet. I reached out and got my dog and pushed him up.”
Walters eventually got out with the help of her friend, completely soaked from head to toe in muddy water and slime, but without a scratch.
“Funnily enough, the top hairs of (Nico) were dry,” Walters joked.
“Hopefully this story will cheer a couple of people up. It wasn’t funny when my dog was struggling to get out of the ditch, though.
“I knew there might be some storm water down there, but my dog certainly didn’t. All he saw was another dog in a garden, at the other side of the ditch. He’s small, so all he could see was the greenery.”
All joking aside, Walters said the overgrown ditches is an accident waiting to happen, and questioned who was responsible for keeping the ditches mowed.
“I’m not sure if it’s the city or the homeowner who should be doing this?” she said.
“It was a bit of a freak accident, but it could have easily been avoided if the grass was cut.
“I look back at what happened…and think of the headlines that could have been: ‘Local senior dies in ditch trying to save dog.’”
A spokesperson for the City of Richmond confirmed that, as per Bylaw no. 7174, it is the “homeowner's responsibility to maintain the boulevard to the road edge.”
