Strange Day

[rusty_armour]

It's been a rather strange day. It all began on the subway this morning. I had to do research at the Law Library at Osgoode Hall, so I was heading downtown. As I arrived on the platform at Eglinton Station, I heard an announcement that trains weren't running between Union and St. George because of a situation at Queen's Park Station. I learned later that a black suitcase had been found outside Queen's Park Station. It turns out that the suitcase was empty and didn't contain a bomb planted by an anarchist or terrorist determined to wreak havoc the day before the G20 Summit begins. Fortunately, I was able to get off at Queen instead of Osgoode and reached Osgoode Hall after a fairly short and pleasant walk.

Although security had been beefed up around Osgoode Hall (because of the G20 Summit), I had no trouble getting inside the building. However, the co-worker who was going to meet me at the library wasn't allowed in. She was told by security that the library was closed and they wouldn't let her into the building. She ended up having to miss the little library tutorial I was going to give her and had to head up to Markham instead. At least she lives within walking distance of Osgoode Hall, so it wasn't too much of a wasted trip. Still, I've got to wonder why I had no trouble and she was turned away. I noticed a really heavy security presence at the west entrance when I was eating lunch outside on the grass. I wonder if my co-worker tried using the west entrance instead of the east one, like I did.

In the afternoon, things got even stranger. I had only just returned to the library after lunch when I felt the ground under my feet begin to shake. In fact, I could hear the wood rattling on the floor/balcony where some shelves were located above me. This will sound ridiculous, but, for a split second, I wondered if a bomb might have gone off. I mean, I was in the G20 Summit zone and all those extra cops I kept seeing weren't just for show. Of course, after that split second, I realized that I must be experiencing an earthquake. I'd felt a couple before, but nothing that strong or prolonged. I asked a librarian afterwards if it had been an earthquake, and he said he couldn't think what else it could be. Then he said that he didn't want to scare me, but one of the columns in the library had fallen a few years ago. It had been after hours and no one was hurt. I was relieved to note that the four columns near my table still looked reassuringly stable and I couldn't see any cracks. Still, if the building had been closer to the epicentre (which was 60 kilometres north of Ottawa), it might not have been pretty. The library is almost 150 years old.

Here's the room I was sitting in if you'd like a better idea of what I'm talking about:



Well, on the bright side, the migraine I've had since at least 5:00 this morning finally seems to be fading...No, wait. It's just switched sides. It's now over my right eye instead of my left one. *g*