craning

So there I was, tucked safely on my roof on a fantastic Saturday afternoon, reading an article about endurance and middle distance athletes (which widely reinforces my own notions, by the way) and then came the loud bending, crashing noise.

A crane took out 4 people and 3 buildings and subsequently set into motion a chain of thoughts in someone, over which I had no ability to soothe or influence. So I was fine; horrified for the inflicted, irritated at the masses, but fine.

And there we were in the midst of a bunch of jackasses, I would have happily punched in their St. Patrick's beer-drinking mouths, watching debris fall and cops cluster. I felt the grip of the fingers on mine and we walked around the block the long way to get back to my house, before a hasty exit was made and I started watching the afternoon news with a new sense of urgency.

Thank you for the calls of concern and well-wishing. I'm fine, with the exception of the sorrow I feel for those who lost their lives and for those who must attend to the affairs of those who lost their lives.

Apparently things like this don't happen elsewhere, but since they happen here, I'm hopeful that this is the last time for a long time. Someone's got to buckle down on a joint that has had 9 serious volations; pay-off or no. How does a union, or non-union gamble 20 stories up, with a man's life?

They should all be ashamed and sued to bankruptcy.