So I don't know how many of you heard about the fatal bus crash in Ottawa.
It happened the day I arrived in Niagara Falls.
Ottawa's a big enough city that I probably didn't know who was on that bus.
Although they have yet to release the identities of the people who died.
Twenty three people were injured, also. The hospital was on code Orange.
The thing is that I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen
along the transit way. I just didn't expect that.
My cousin told me at our Auntie's funeral.
I'm kind of shocked, but not surprised. The drivers drive fast along there
and then they like to brake hard when they get to the stations.
I was talking about this last night and someone said
that it was probably ice on the road. When it gets as cold as it was,
the salt they use is useless. It has to be a certain temperature for it to be effective.
They've had someone from Health and Safety at the station.
Handing out cards or something.
I guess there's some services for people, I don't know.
They just have that part blocked off, but the transit way is open again.
I wasn't sure if they would open it so soon, but they did.
And a lot of people are acting like nothing happened. It's weird.
Anyway, when I was on my way back to Ottawa, I missed my bus.
I mistook my boarding number for the platform number.
So when the bus finally came, they told me mine had already left.
I was in a panic because that was the first time that ever happened to me.
I was allowed to exchange my ticket for another one, but I had to pay a fee.
Luckily, I was given some money at the funeral. My cousin gave me $50.
I wasn't expecting that, either. I just went to go to her funeral. To say goodbye.
She was the Matriarch of our family. My oldest relative.
She was close with my Grandmother, my Grandmother's sister.
I was given some photos to take with me and Auntie's angel pin.
Anyway, I kept thinking that there was some reason why I missed my bus.
There was a guy who was confused about the boarding numbers, too.
He was heading to Montreal so he had to transfer in Ottawa.
Maybe I missed my bus so that he wouldn't miss his bus.
Things work out that way, too. It's not all for nothing.
Even if it seems like it is.
Maybe I was supposed to be in Niagara Falls when that bus crashed
so that I would miss that bus altogether.
Things have strange ways of working out.
Even when we think they are totally not related.
Had I not been able to go to the funeral, I might have been on that bus.
We take for granted that they are generally save,
and we forget that they aren't absolutely safe.
We forget that we are often putting our lives in the driver's hands.
We just make the assumption that we will arrive to our destinations safely.
One of the people who died was waiting on the platform for a bus.
Just still kind of blows my mind that none of these people ever expected this.
They were not expecting their lives to end so suddenly,
so abruptly, with no warning whatsoever.
Just here one minute, gone the next.
Like that guy who got hit by the bus on New Years' Eve.
I hadn't heard anything about that other than from an acquaintance.
He was there when it happened and witnessed it.
I don't know if he died or what. He might have.
Just is so strange that people can die so quickly like that.
Never knowing from one minute to the next when will be their last.
I picture them saying: "Had I known I was going to die,
I would have done x,y,z. I wouldn't have waited to do (whatever).
Now it's too late to do (whatever)." Stuff like that.
Maybe there was more than one reason why I missed that bus in Toronto.
Not that I heard anything about any crashes or anything.
Maybe because of that I prevented something in the future.
Maybe because I helped prevent the guy from missing his bus,
maybe I prevented something.
What's funny is that I had to walk like 10 blocks or more
with my luggage to get the bus that took me home.
Which was literally right there when I got there.
It was like perfect timing. I didn't have to wait for it.
Today, I saw 217 on a license plate of a truck that was driving by me.
I was waiting on the corner and the truck was turning the corner.
Everything happens for reasons. I kept thinking that.
When I was on the bus leaving Toronto,
I kept thinking that all the traffic that passed by...
None of those cars or those people would have been there
had I caught the original bus, the one that I missed.
I mean, they wouldn't have been there earlier.
Because they were all there when they were supposed to be.
And I kind of had that feeling that it was supposed to happen.
Even though that was a pretty stupid mistake.
I ended up helping that guy out, so maybe that was the reason for it.
It happened the day I arrived in Niagara Falls.
Ottawa's a big enough city that I probably didn't know who was on that bus.
Although they have yet to release the identities of the people who died.
Twenty three people were injured, also. The hospital was on code Orange.
The thing is that I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen
along the transit way. I just didn't expect that.
My cousin told me at our Auntie's funeral.
I'm kind of shocked, but not surprised. The drivers drive fast along there
and then they like to brake hard when they get to the stations.
I was talking about this last night and someone said
that it was probably ice on the road. When it gets as cold as it was,
the salt they use is useless. It has to be a certain temperature for it to be effective.
They've had someone from Health and Safety at the station.
Handing out cards or something.
I guess there's some services for people, I don't know.
They just have that part blocked off, but the transit way is open again.
I wasn't sure if they would open it so soon, but they did.
And a lot of people are acting like nothing happened. It's weird.
Anyway, when I was on my way back to Ottawa, I missed my bus.
I mistook my boarding number for the platform number.
So when the bus finally came, they told me mine had already left.
I was in a panic because that was the first time that ever happened to me.
I was allowed to exchange my ticket for another one, but I had to pay a fee.
Luckily, I was given some money at the funeral. My cousin gave me $50.
I wasn't expecting that, either. I just went to go to her funeral. To say goodbye.
She was the Matriarch of our family. My oldest relative.
She was close with my Grandmother, my Grandmother's sister.
I was given some photos to take with me and Auntie's angel pin.
Anyway, I kept thinking that there was some reason why I missed my bus.
There was a guy who was confused about the boarding numbers, too.
He was heading to Montreal so he had to transfer in Ottawa.
Maybe I missed my bus so that he wouldn't miss his bus.
Things work out that way, too. It's not all for nothing.
Even if it seems like it is.
Maybe I was supposed to be in Niagara Falls when that bus crashed
so that I would miss that bus altogether.
Things have strange ways of working out.
Even when we think they are totally not related.
Had I not been able to go to the funeral, I might have been on that bus.
We take for granted that they are generally save,
and we forget that they aren't absolutely safe.
We forget that we are often putting our lives in the driver's hands.
We just make the assumption that we will arrive to our destinations safely.
One of the people who died was waiting on the platform for a bus.
Just still kind of blows my mind that none of these people ever expected this.
They were not expecting their lives to end so suddenly,
so abruptly, with no warning whatsoever.
Just here one minute, gone the next.
Like that guy who got hit by the bus on New Years' Eve.
I hadn't heard anything about that other than from an acquaintance.
He was there when it happened and witnessed it.
I don't know if he died or what. He might have.
Just is so strange that people can die so quickly like that.
Never knowing from one minute to the next when will be their last.
I picture them saying: "Had I known I was going to die,
I would have done x,y,z. I wouldn't have waited to do (whatever).
Now it's too late to do (whatever)." Stuff like that.
Maybe there was more than one reason why I missed that bus in Toronto.
Not that I heard anything about any crashes or anything.
Maybe because of that I prevented something in the future.
Maybe because I helped prevent the guy from missing his bus,
maybe I prevented something.
What's funny is that I had to walk like 10 blocks or more
with my luggage to get the bus that took me home.
Which was literally right there when I got there.
It was like perfect timing. I didn't have to wait for it.
Today, I saw 217 on a license plate of a truck that was driving by me.
I was waiting on the corner and the truck was turning the corner.
Everything happens for reasons. I kept thinking that.
When I was on the bus leaving Toronto,
I kept thinking that all the traffic that passed by...
None of those cars or those people would have been there
had I caught the original bus, the one that I missed.
I mean, they wouldn't have been there earlier.
Because they were all there when they were supposed to be.
And I kind of had that feeling that it was supposed to happen.
Even though that was a pretty stupid mistake.
I ended up helping that guy out, so maybe that was the reason for it.
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