What a humane day I had yesterday.
From learning about a friend who was involved in an accident that left her shaken, to meeting a friend who just recovered from food poisoning, to learning about a person who jumped or fell to his or her death at Tampines MRT.
What a day.
It all started when I chatted with a friend online at work. Part of her online nickname was ‘Thankful to be alive’, which left me puzzled, and when you’re puzzled, you ask questions to solve the puzzle.
Apparently, a speedster rammed head-on, into the side of the car, that she was in. While there were no major injuries suffered by her parents, her or the speedster, they were shaken and her mum was reeling in shock from the accident.
And it was a brand new car too.
Half the day later, while at a KFC outlet in Tampines, I met yet another friend, whom I’ve not seen for a rather long time, no thanks to internship.
She just recovered from a bout of food poisoning.
You know, I kinda think my course probably has the highest rate of sickness-prone interns. I recall during the first two weeks of internship, nearly ten people, including me, fell ill. I dare say this rate hasn’t lowered significantly through this six months.
Oh, and on my way home, I had to alight at Tampines MRT Station due to disruption in train service between Pasir Ris and Tampines. An unknown person had fallen onto the tracks. Well I hope he or she fell, and wasn’t pushed nor willingly jumped.
I was on an East-bound train, which stopped a few hundred metres before Tanah Merah MRT. Assuming that it was simply to create a buffer space between the train before, I thought nothing of it.
Till my train glided beside the platform at Tanah Merah MRT Station, where a multitude of people waited impatiently to board my train, and I heard an announcement being played at the station, informing passengers of a train disruption service between Pasir Ris and Tampines.
Now, the train was completely filled with passengers, all packed and squashed like the noodles in a packet of instant noodles, and the train went on its way. Towards Simei, and finally Tampines. And we all had to get out.
And I saw a West-bound train at the other platform, one-third into the station, empty, and its doors were closed, and the SMRT staff were furiously trying to maintain the crowd and get passengers to depart from the station.
The train drivers’ door was open, and I could see a medic inside. My first thought was something happened to the driver, but later as I made my way down the staircase, and saw a firefighter carrying torchlights up, I knew it had to be somebody under the train.
Whether or not it was a suicide, or an accident, it’s a startling fact that such incidents are becoming more frequent. Used to only occur in the North or West like Yishun or Clementi, it has now arrived at the East.
Well, I guess that’s a bad thing about living all the way at one end of the service line.
Condolences to that family.
What a humane day. Near death, sickness and death.
