My colleague, Julie, and I live fairly close to one another so, we frequently try to walk home together whenever we can. It’s always a really relaxing and fun way to end off the workday that can be otherwise consuming at times. With the funeral on Monday, many of us were left with a very unsettled sadness that wasn’t easy to shake off. It was a rough way to start off a week. Today was the first time in a while that Julie and I were able to walk home together, and despite the wet weather, we were looking forward to our afternoon trek. Our moods had lifted and the weekend was a walk away...we were determined that not even the rain was going to change our spirits that had endured a rather emotional week.
Julie and I were both heading to our local grocery store on Bank street when we were stopped in our tracks by sirens coming at us from every direction. Before we knew what was going on, we were surrounded by fire trucks, search and rescue vehicles, ambulances and police cars. As it turned out, the building directly across the street from the grocery store, and no more than 500 feet from where we were standing, had collapsed in on itself. As a police officer was quickly trying to move us from the scene, I instinctively grabbed his arm and asked if anyone was inside. He just looked at me with the face of someone that didn’t want to have to break the news and said “yes”.
The Duke of Somerset used to be a very popular pub when I first moved to Ottawa ten years ago. Over time, as the demographic of the Bank and Somerset area changed, the pub became less conducive to the neighborhood. It’s been vacant and empty for some time now but, given the prime real estate that it sits upon, it wasn’t long before it was swept up by owners eager to take over new management. While it’s fortunate that the building wasn’t filled with patrons grabbing a beer after work, it did have construction workers within, busy renovating the new space.
From where Julie and I were standing, the building was a mere hollowed out structure with nothing but rubble inside. There were no walls and no floors…just a huge mound of broken wood pieces crumpled in the frame of what used to be a favourite hang out. I just looked at it and wondered how anyone could survive being buried under there.
While my heart rate increased rapidly, everything else around me seemed to be coming to a stand still. In the midst of all the panic, my breathing became really shallow, yet as I looked around me, the flashing lights and rescue crews running in all directions seemed to be moving in slow motion. Even the rain came down a bit slower. Traffic was halted in every direction, pedestrians were caught in the crossfire of emergency vehicles and reporters were on every corner trying to tell the story of what lay beneath the pile. The entirety of Ottawa’s core had come to a screeching halt and nothing seemed to exist beyond this eight block radius.
Standing in the down pour, I can vividly remember the water dripping off my hair and running down the back of my sweater. It seemed odd to me the things that appeared to stand out in the midst of chaos. I noticed all of the police tape and the media crews, and for the second time this week, I felt like I was standing in the middle of a movie…something simply too surreal to possibly be happening.
I made it home about forty minutes later, drenched to the bone and walking through the countless puddles that were now joining forces with the fallen leaves to make the world seem that much more treacherous to get through. My umbrella had broke from the blustering winds and there wasn’t much of me left to salvage by this time.
When I walked through our apartment door, I just stood in the hallway with an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion. All of the water from my hair, clothes and bags were forming a puddle where I stood, yet the lights and warmth from our apartment brought the very comfort that I so desperately needed. After a couple of deep breaths and a sigh a relief, I heard the most wonderful sound in the world…that of my husband greeting me from the other room. I put my bags down on the floor and walked my soaking self over to him wanting nothing more than to be in his arms. It was the safest place in the world.
After the things that I have witnessed this week, I have only one thing left to say; if you are breathing right now…and if the person that you love most is breathing right now…then your life…is simply magical. Even on the rainiest of days.
Julie and I were both heading to our local grocery store on Bank street when we were stopped in our tracks by sirens coming at us from every direction. Before we knew what was going on, we were surrounded by fire trucks, search and rescue vehicles, ambulances and police cars. As it turned out, the building directly across the street from the grocery store, and no more than 500 feet from where we were standing, had collapsed in on itself. As a police officer was quickly trying to move us from the scene, I instinctively grabbed his arm and asked if anyone was inside. He just looked at me with the face of someone that didn’t want to have to break the news and said “yes”.
The Duke of Somerset used to be a very popular pub when I first moved to Ottawa ten years ago. Over time, as the demographic of the Bank and Somerset area changed, the pub became less conducive to the neighborhood. It’s been vacant and empty for some time now but, given the prime real estate that it sits upon, it wasn’t long before it was swept up by owners eager to take over new management. While it’s fortunate that the building wasn’t filled with patrons grabbing a beer after work, it did have construction workers within, busy renovating the new space.
From where Julie and I were standing, the building was a mere hollowed out structure with nothing but rubble inside. There were no walls and no floors…just a huge mound of broken wood pieces crumpled in the frame of what used to be a favourite hang out. I just looked at it and wondered how anyone could survive being buried under there.
While my heart rate increased rapidly, everything else around me seemed to be coming to a stand still. In the midst of all the panic, my breathing became really shallow, yet as I looked around me, the flashing lights and rescue crews running in all directions seemed to be moving in slow motion. Even the rain came down a bit slower. Traffic was halted in every direction, pedestrians were caught in the crossfire of emergency vehicles and reporters were on every corner trying to tell the story of what lay beneath the pile. The entirety of Ottawa’s core had come to a screeching halt and nothing seemed to exist beyond this eight block radius.
Standing in the down pour, I can vividly remember the water dripping off my hair and running down the back of my sweater. It seemed odd to me the things that appeared to stand out in the midst of chaos. I noticed all of the police tape and the media crews, and for the second time this week, I felt like I was standing in the middle of a movie…something simply too surreal to possibly be happening.
I made it home about forty minutes later, drenched to the bone and walking through the countless puddles that were now joining forces with the fallen leaves to make the world seem that much more treacherous to get through. My umbrella had broke from the blustering winds and there wasn’t much of me left to salvage by this time.
When I walked through our apartment door, I just stood in the hallway with an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion. All of the water from my hair, clothes and bags were forming a puddle where I stood, yet the lights and warmth from our apartment brought the very comfort that I so desperately needed. After a couple of deep breaths and a sigh a relief, I heard the most wonderful sound in the world…that of my husband greeting me from the other room. I put my bags down on the floor and walked my soaking self over to him wanting nothing more than to be in his arms. It was the safest place in the world.
After the things that I have witnessed this week, I have only one thing left to say; if you are breathing right now…and if the person that you love most is breathing right now…then your life…is simply magical. Even on the rainiest of days.
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