Roadwork Pete shifted his weight from his left foot to his right, and started to lose his balance. He regained control over the effects of gravity on his body by quickly shifting the position of the shovel he was leaning on. Years of experience on a state road crew had made Pete familiar with the most comfortable stances a man can employ using the long handle of a shovel.
When Pete had started with the road crew he was a broad-shouldered young man just out of the army. A couple of decades later he still had broad shoulders, but the rest of his body was equally wide and his gut was hanging over his belt.