Seems like every day’s the same when I’m working my stupid job. Get up, shower, hit the office, blog…or, if I’m on top of my game, which I aint anymore, scan the internet for fresh opportunities…then, hit the Safeway and sling free booze at the chiselers. Safeway’s full of freebie chasers but so am I so no big deal. Put in my four hour sift and go home to Scruffy and drink some of that leftover booze, watch a youtube video, nod off, dream about some crazy ass shit makes me wonder what the hell’s wrong with me. Get up, shower, hit the office….etcetera, etcetera, and so on…Okay, so it’s not quite like John Lennon’s “A day in the life” but you get the point. It’s the monotony of a routine I’m talking about here. And yet the sameness of a routine is illusory.

Shit’s happening all the time. I’m just not bothering to notice it. Sometimes a big deal will occur out of the blue. Not necessarily to me but out there in the world…

This item come over the news this morning.

Check out this video:

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was a steel arch continuous through truss bridge spanning the lower Patapsco River and outer Baltimore Harbor / Port carrying Maryland Route 695 between Baltimore and Dundalk, Maryland, United States. The crossing between Baltimore City and Baltimore County also passed through a small portion of Anne Arundel County. 

Wikipedia

Container ship hit the bridge around one thirty this morning. You see it collapsing. The whole damned thing. You see car lights on the bridge slipping into the water as the span dissolves. Bridge maintenance crew vanishing with the cars. All of this happening so quickly and so completely I’m thinking who built this bridge to make it so flimsy?

I mean, this is a major bridge. Total length about the same as our Golden Gate Bridge. Same number of lanes. 31, 000 cars a day cross the Key Bridge. 11,500,000 cars a year. That’s around a fourth of the traffic crossing the Golden Gate. But still. 31 thousand people a day need to figure another way to cross the Patapsco River. Like finding another way to get from The City to Marin County.

Crossing a bridge, right? I do it every day for my free booze sample job. Well, not every single day. But I get over to the Marina Safeway at least once a week. Once a week I cross the Golden Gate Bridge. Like the video above, I get in traffic and zip across the bridge. A toll bridge, just like the Key Bridge. A similar experience. You don’t think about it, much. You just do it. You cross the bridge. Get in traffic and cross the bridge. No big deal.

Imagine crossing the bridge and suddenly you’re fucking car is plunging into the bay.

That’s what happened to at least seven occupied cars. A cement truck. Bridge workers. We don’t know how many yet. They’re searching the river for survivors. Horrible enough the Bridge collapses like matchsticks. Worse, it happens at one thirty in the morning. Pitch black. You’re car hits the water. drops fifty feet to the bottom. Or smashed by girders. At this writing they’ve fished out only two people. One badly injured. The other one refused treatment. Apparently, not a scratch on the person.

I’m trying to imagine the Golden Gate Bridge collapsing.

I remember the day it slacked

That’s right. The upward curve of the bridge leveled from a gigantic weight. This was on the occasion of the Golden Gate’s 50th birthday. I was on the Bridge that day. 1987 it was. Me and my pal Cal Daebler (r.i.p.). We showed up for the event. Walked onto the bridge. Got squeezed by the crowd. Wiggled off the bridge and came back home. We didn’t notice anything at the time. Only later did we learn how harrowing the effect was. Three hundred thousand people packed onto the bridge.

Flattened the span!!!

We coulda been part of a big ass plunge. But it didn’t happen. The bridge survived…

No such luck for those poor souls crossing the francis Scott Key Bridge

At one thirty this morning.

I’m wishing the best for any survivors.

So much for just another day in the life…

And the next time I cross the Golden Gate, which will be thursday, I’ll be thinking of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. All the way across.

And for many crossings to come.

Because like it or not Shit Happens.