Watch out for falling snow and ice tonight!

Howdy, Ms. Cindy!

Billy Bob here in St. Catharines.  Sorry to be pesterin’ you again so soon.  After I sent off my last message, Daisy May, turned to me and asked, “Did you tell Ms. Cindy about the fallin’ ice at Union Station?”

“Oops”, I mumbled, “I’ll get right on that.”

After Daisy May rolled into the Union Station on the bus from Newmarket, she had some time to kill before catchin’ the LSW train, so she figured she’d say a quick hello to that nice CSA Katelyn that I.K. told us about — so as to lend her some moral support.

Daisy May made her way up to Platform 10 and was waitin’ under a temporary roof near the accessibility platform, when she heard this loud crash of ice hittin’ the platform.  It happened again a couple of minutes later on Platform 9.  Ice was meltin’ and fallin’ from them louvered windows on that new-fangled glass train shed thing.

A Customer Assistance person wearin’ a bright coloured vest and a hard hat showed up on Platform 9 to warn passengers about the problem and for anyone on Platforms 10 and 11 to walk through the Barrie train parked to the south to avoid the ice hazard.  Daisy May had to shake her head at how self-absorbed passengers is at the end of their work day.  The Customer Assistance person had a real clear and loud voice, but folks just kept ploddin’ along in la la land.

Daisy May said a real handsome gentleman (she used them words a number of times) saw that the Customer Assistance person weren’t gettin’ much attention, so he stood outside the door of the accessibility coach of the Barrie train, informed passengers of the problem by pointin’ at the ice above, and recommended they detour through the train.  Daisy May says she likes a man who takes charge, and she wanted to thank him for what he done.

Well, the Georgetown train pulled in on the track north of the Barrie train about then, and when the doors opened, Mr. Handsome popped into them and was gone.  Daisy May looked for a female CSA who might be Katelyn in the accessibility coach, but there was a male CSA on duty that day — double disappointment for Daisy May.

When Daisy May got home and told me all this, I got to wonderin’ whether anyone got hurt cuz of the fallin’ ice.  A news story that day reported a young man in Ottawa was killed by fallin’ ice.  I checked Google News for stories about GO Transit’s new train shed, but all I done found was that feedin’ frenzy the media folks had about electric trains not fittin’ into Union Station sometime in the future.  Not sure why them same journalists never took an interest in my missus and y’all maybe gettin’ hurt due to yet another safety hazard there.

I got to thinkin’ maybe someone posted somethin’ to Twitter about this mess, and yep, someone did.  Now @GOtransit’s response to @GOvoygr was OK — they had to get their Customer Assistance folks to track level pronto to manage the situation — but why didn’t they broadcast an alert on Twitter warnin’ everyone about the problem?  Earlier in the afternoon they tweeted about how snow and rain make a dangerous couple.  Heck, me and Herb (you remember my cousin Herb Hellfinger) use our CB radios lots of times to warn others about road hazards, like black ice.

Daisy May asked me, “Who in Canada would design a transit roof that sends ice crashin’ down on passengers below?”  Well, in this case it’s Zeidler Partnership Architects.  When I told her they won a architectural award in 2012 for their design, Daisy May said …  Well, I better not repeat what she said, but it kind of went along the lines of if someone gets hurt, the only award that’s appropriate is the Canadian equivalent of the Carbuncle Cup.

Here’s hopin’ you stay safe while boardin’ them trains, Ms. Cindy.  Daisy May says if you don’t already own one, Discount Safety Gear has hard hats on sale.

Best wishes,

Billy Bob