Unexpected dip wipes the scowl off his face

Here's a story I find astonishing: 

Splashdown! Dave reverses his mobility scooter off boat and into canal - Halifax Courier:

A Halifax pensioner was saved by a crew member after he reversed his new electric scooter OFF a narrowboat and INTO a canal.

One minute Dave Brown, 67, of Warley, was enjoying a leisurely cruise along the Calder and Hebble.  The next he was shooting backwards off the deck and into the murky water.

But after being pulled from the canal, he was soon laughing off his ordeal.

Why astonishing?  Because they said he was laughing after the ordeal, and the pictures on the Courier website indeed shows him looking cheerful, both before and after the event. 

This is the first time I've ever seen any oldie on one of those disability chariots issue the glimmer of a smile.  Usually I see them with the misanthropic scowl of Scrooge set on their faces as they plough down the pavement or through the supermarket aisles - or on the road to and from the pub.

Perhaps an explanation lurks later on in the story:

Mr Brown, a member of Halifax Speakability Group, had just finished lunch at the Leggers Inn pub at Dewsbury when the accident happened.

Somewhat ironic, that pub name, under the circumstances.  But there's no infelicitation that a good English pub can't cure.

Comments

[Andrew Denny]

Dave, 'felicity' is happiness (a felicitation might be, say, 'Happy Christmas', or quite commonly nowadays, 'Happy Minor Celebration Day Invented By The Greetings Card Industry').

I'm not sure if I'm the first to use 'infelicitation', but perhaps it could be 'unhappy falling off the boat day'.

[Andy M E]

Educate us Andrew (and not for the first time): what does infelicitation mean?

[paul nb just the job]

Have you noticed that he has the same hat on in both pictures , however in the second picture it looks darker ,is that because it is still damp? and why do thay always refer to the canal as murky water?