I suppose the death of Princess Diana was the equivalent to other major moments in history (like the assassination of JFK) where everyone can pinpoint exactly where they were at that moment in time.
As soon as I heard it was the ten year anniversary of her death this morning it hit me like a ton of bricks…not because of Princess Diana, but because it reminded me of where I was when I heard.
Flashback Ten Years Ago. A few pounds lighter, probably a similar haircut and fresh into school after leaving Kapuskasing. After the first few days in school I decided to take the bus down to Oshawa to visit Carol who had also started college. Let me tell you what bus NOT to take when traveling from Oshawa to Ottawa – the milk run bus. I didn’t know…I was new to the bus system. Turns out that the milk run bus takes 6.5 hours to get to Oshawa because it stops at every little stop along the way, whereas it’s a lot faster to take the express bus to Toronto and catch the GO-Train back. I laugh at this now because years later Carol would come up to visit (and get a ride back home for Christmas) and I forgot to tell her not to take the milk run bus and she ended up next to some crazy person.
Anyhow, there I was with Carol in her new residence building in Oshawa becoming jealous by the minute considering Algonquin College had nothing of the kind to offer me. We were in some room (perhaps her own?) having a few drinks with people when someone ran into the room and proclaimed “Princess Diana just died in a car accident!” and then he ran off.
That was odd. Why would anyone say that of all things?
Turns out it was true after we consulted the television set. So here was a bunch of drunk new college students watching the television for up to date news. I don’t remember watching too much of it because I didn’t really know much about Princess Diana.
It’s amazing how vividly I can picture this memory in my mind’s eye. I’m sure Carol can add a bunch of other thoughts (probably who came in and told us and whatever else she can remember from that night).
Anyhow, on another note, holy mackerel, I’ve been in Ottawa ten years now. That is crazy. In that time I’ve completed school, started a job and went back to school. Full circle mes amis?
iplaying: Persuasion of You – Collective Soul (Afterwords)
2 replies on “Where Were You?”
I remember that I had just started working on a computer instead of a keypunch machine and they made me learn how to use the internet. Being a rookie I didn’t have a clue how to work this thing, but when I did, I started printing out anything I could find out about Diana. I was truly upset by the fact that she was dead.
I do remember that day, we were sitting in my rez room and someone did come in and told us the news…it was a crazy day to hear that!! I can’t believe that was 10 years ago!!
where does the time go!