Not only airplanes divert

I've had my share of flight delays. Sometimes they annoy me; most of the time I just shrug them off. Diversions, delays, random routes, and strange cities are just a normal part of flying for business.

My GF doesn't have as many flight issues as I do. She gets to deal with an entirely different mode of transit -- she rides the bus.

And today, is her first Guest Post on Cromely's World. So welcome her to the blog and maybe she'll share more stories in the future.



This morning I was waiting for the bus as usual on 1st Ave., on my way to work, when suddenly a helicopter was flying overhead.

I didn’t think much of it at first. I thought maybe it was a news copter reporting on traffic. But then I began to suspect something when the copter remained in position up above. I looked at the people around me, also waiting for the bus, and people walking across the street. They were all looking up, looking in wonderment at the copter just above us. I looked down the street to see if I could get a glimpse of what was happening. I couldn’t see.

I had a bad feeling about this.

My bus finally came, only about 5 minutes late (that’s pretty good!). I hopped on and the bus continued down 1st Ave on its regular route.

About 5 blocks along on my journey, my instincts were confirmed. The Federal building came into sight, and the whole block was shut down, guarded by police. Yellow caution tape lined the block.

The bus had to take an emergency re-route and leave 1st Ave, since we couldn’t get past the police barricade. Traffic was stopped. Some people opted to get off the bus and walk the rest of their journey. I considered it, since my office was only about a mile away, but decided to stay on the bus to see what would happen.

The bus turned onto 2nd Ave and drove a couple of blocks (with cars honking the entire way because the 60’ articulated bus I was riding took command of the road and disregarded the rest of the traffic flow) and turned back onto 1st again, after we had passed the mess around the Federal building. I got off at my usual stop, a block away from my office.

I still heard the copter overhead. Looking behind me, it looked like the flow of traffic was getting better, which indicated that the incident was over, and they were letting traffic through again. I walked into my office, only 15 minutes late (not bad, under the circumstances). I immediately booted up my computer and checked the news.

“Breaking Story: Suspicious package briefly shuts down street near the Federal building. A police bomb squad was called in to check out a suspicious package at the Federal Building in downtown Seattle Wednesday morning. Spokeswoman Renee Witt says federal police called at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday to report finding the package in a window well. Police closed First Ave. between Marion and Madison as a precaution. The bomb squad ultimately rendered the package safe at about 8 a.m. Police describe the package as a plastic bag containing a canvas bag.”

So, it wasn’t a sleeping bag again (like last year). But it may as well have been. On to work as usual.

You can read a little more about the incident here.