stumbling along

[rainous]

And then, a woman came into my sight, stumbling along belatedly; I fell in love with her instantly.

Can anyone help me find better expression to substitute for the underlined phrase?
I don't think stumbling along makes sense.

I would like to replace it with a phrase that carries a meaning that's somewhere along the lines of "running awkwardly in hurry in order not to be late for a meeting"

Anybody has an idea?

Thanks

 

[waflob]

Hmm - good question. Having thought about it for a while, what about replacing it with

"in a flustered hurry" ?

 

[5jj]

"in a flustered hurry" ?

That doesn't sound very natural to me. I can't come up with a 'better' expression than the original.

 

[JohnParis]

a woman came into my sight, tottering hurriedly down the hallway, obviously late for an appointment, and I fell...


John

 

[5jj]

To me, 'tottering' suggests that her heels were rather high.

 

[JohnParis]

Roget's lists both teeter and totter as synonyms for stumble. I chose totter because, compared with teeter, I thought it had less of the height connotation you mention. Now that I think about it, both bring to mind a high-heeled disaster in the making.
Rainous, how about some feedback?

John

 

[rainous]

Roget's lists both teeter and totter as synonyms for stumble. I chose totter because, compared with teeter, I thought it had less of the height connotation you mention. Now that I think about it, both bring to mind a high-heeled disaster in the making.
Rainous, how about some feedback?

John

You are a legend.

Your suggestion dovetails wickedly with my initial intention.