Merry ??? Christmas

Well, not for everyone. In fact, I will probably be haunted by what I saw today upon leaving the office at 12 noon. Upon reaching the street level I found a couple of fire trucks, several police cars and a couple of ambulances near the corner of Drumm & Sacramento with lots of yellow police tape blocking off the streets in the area. Everyone seemed to be looking up and I did not see what they were looking at, but then I did. There was a man dangling from the outside of the (approximately) 14th floor balcony of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. He seemed to be moving somewhat but I could not tell exactly how he was suspending himself there. I do not know how long he had been there but I watched in hopes the fire and police personnel could get him down safely. That was not to be as he finally let go or lost his grip and fell to the sidewalk. That was a sickening sound when he hit. Someone described it as sounding like smashing a large watermelon.

As a result of this situation I could not catch my # 1 bus in its usual location so I sought out an alternate route. By that time however they were running the new ETBs under battery power from wired territory through some unwired streets and then over to Sacramento Street and the regular route. I did not try to catch one, opting instead to catch something on Sutter Street.

It has been a somber afternoon for me as a result of those images. The sound too, of his body hitting the pavement will be something I will long remember. I hope I don't have any nightmares tonight as a result of this.

Tomorrow is another day and I will be joining friends in Oakland for Christmass dinner. I look forward to this and need this to get my mind off of today's events.