02:00 - 22.11.06
collision course
First thing I heard this morning when I woke with the radio was that there had been a murder in my community. It happened at the very same place as the rapes earlier in the year. That is the far end away from my home but it is still really disturbing. There was a reference to it being related to a sex assault so one wonders if the murder was also related to the previous crimes mentioned. I can't recall but I think the media reported that the accused rapist was released into his parents' custody. I don't believe in or support vigilante behaviour - it makes those people no different than the person they assault.
The train ride in to downtown was a bit of a challenge this morning. About halfway in a young woman boarded and stood next to me where I sat on the bench next to the door. She propped her very heavy bag against my leg. Then she proceeded to take the lid off her thermos mug, nearly tipping it on me when she dropped said lid. As she drank she slurped and smacked her lips quite loudly. Even after the cup was empty the sound effects continued. The woman across the aisle from me and the gentleman next to her were both looking at me for my reactio to her weird behaviour. I just grinned and rolled my eyes. I don't know if the offender caught the interaction - she seemed rather oblivious to the fact that anyone else was on the train - but then she started to fling her designer scarf around several times trying to get that "Je ne sais quois" look I guess. When we reached the downtown she stood in the middle of the aisle and refused to move either her bag - which appeared to be full of food - or herself, so that other travellers could get to the door to get off at their stops. I felt sorry for whoever her co-workers were. I would hate to work in an office with someone like that - come to think of it I have, haven't I dear diary.
I had managed to get on the earlier train so I made it onto the regular connector bus as a result. My granddaughter was very good but also very sore with her teething and the resulting diaper rash that is part of the package. She really was enervated and wanted to sleep a lot. Around the lunch hour I was sitting in the family room, still with all the noise makers off since she was sleeping. Suddenly I heard one man's voice say quite clearly "I'm going to call 9-11 (emergency response services)" and then another male say "f*** you". It sounded very close to the house - outside or next door in one of the other units. I couldn't tell if it was coming from a television with the volume turned way up or if it was actual people near by. I grabbed the phone in the room and headed up the stairs to see if I needed to take an action. I could hear my granddaughter cooing up in the nursery and I didn't want to bring her downstairs if there was any chance of trouble outside. The quality of sound around my son's home is very odd. There is a sort of valley or escarpment on one side of one of the main freeways in the city. The sound of activity nearby is enhanced and echoes so it is difficult to determine how close or in which direction the original sound is emanating from. I checked out the windows but couldn't see anything of concern so I went on with the afternoon routine.
When my son and daughter-in-law came home I told them about and asked if they had an emergency plan for things like a fire or any kind of extrnal disturbance. Living as close to the freeway as they do it is likely that they will have to consider that one day. I think they thought maybe I was hearing things that weren't there or was over-reacting to something that wasn't all that important. I wasn't all that concerned about the incident that had already passed, but without a vehicle I wanted to know if there was a neighbour nearby during the day should a fire force us out of the house or if we needed to find help for some other reason. I just explained that I prefer to plan ahead for most contingencies and left it at that.
When my son drove me home we were discussing all the serious accidents and violent behaviour that had occurred the past week. It isn't usual to hear of traffic deaths and murders/violent assaults almost every day in this city. We were speculating on what had gotten into people here lately. The conclusion was that it was that downside of a booming economy. It is very much like the last boom where the money that seems to be readily available attracts a lot of the lowest denominator of humans too. Vultures and jackals.
As we were nearing my home we were almost caught in an accident ourselves. A school bus had stalled at the traffic lights on a main artery. Traffic was heavy so those of us in the same lane as the stall found ourselves stuck as the drivers in the other lane continued through on the green light. When the light turned red, the drivers in the other lane slowed and made provision to allow us to pull into the free lane with them. There were two vehicles in front of us but behind that bus. The first slowly started to nose into the free space left by the vehicle next to us. The vehicle between us and the first car started to roll and seemed to speed up - directly hitting the back of the first vehicle behind the bus. Fortunately some of the drivers in the other lane had left enough space so that my son could swing his car into the other lane as the offending driver's car bounced back off the bumper of the first car toward us. Neither of us could believe what we were seeing even though it happened right in front of our eyes. It wasn't possible to stop and return to the scene because of the heavy flow of traffic and the nature of the roadway which is constructed to discourage any type of turnaround. We spent the balance of the trip trying to figure out what was going on in that on idiot driver's head. We are both of the opinion that some people need to loe their licences and their vehicles if necessary until it is recalled that driving is a privilege, not a right.
That's my story for the day and I'm sticking to it. Good night dear diary.
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