Nothing like starting one's day with some excitement. I took a different route to work this morning, thanks to traffic chaos on the 401 (like that's anything new) and decided to stop at the Esso station at Leslie & Lawrence to hit the Tim Horton's mini-donut stand inside for some breakfast and coffee. This is situated on the northeast corner of the intersection. In the southwest corner lies Edwards Gardens, a beautiful park that is also home to hundreds of water fowl.
After leaving my car to walk into the station, I hear a woman waiting for a bus shout "No!" Turning to see what's going on, I spied a mother duck and her flock of 10 ducklings panicking in the middle of the intersection, trying to cross the road and narrowly being avoided by the bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic.
I ran to where the ducks were in the middle of the northbound lanes of Leslie, just above the intersection and made sure the cars were stopped. The mother duck wanted to get to the west side of the the road, but kept getting turned around by all the vehicles going past. The bus stop woman had stopped one lane of the southbound traffic, but the other 2 lanes were still moving, with the duck family heading in their direction.
I moved to the median and started into the southbound lanes, arm outstretched in a traffic cop pose. The next lane of traffic stopped, seeing the ducks in front of me. I feared the car in the far lane wasn't going to stop in time, and saw they had their driver's side window open. Using my best RSM voice, I yelled "Stop your car, right now!" They obliged.
Meanwhile, the ducks were changing course and heading deeper into the intersection. I got behind them and discovered that by stamping my feet and waving my arms, I was able to herd them in the proper direction. Hundreds of people in the intersection witnessed my stooped flailing about and stomping manouvre, keeping the ducks in line. After only a few seconds of this, mother duck ran into the parkette in the northwest corner of the intersection, with the ducklings mounting the curb and following.
Once safely seen onto the grass and away from traffic, I started to breathe again. My heart was racing a mile a minute. Some drivers honked thanks as traffic started moving again. Some had even pulled into the Esso station to ask me if the ducks made it safely across, then thanked me for the effort when I told them they were in the clear. I grabbed my coffee and donuts and proceeded to work.
It took about an hour for my heart to stop racing from the incident. Now I have an approximation of what rescue personnel go through, and the high from a success.
No sooner do I get to work; it's time for my annual salary review. Adding to the adrenalin rush of the morning, I have been given a substantial salary increase plus a bonus for a year's work well done.
Oy; what a day. I'm almost afraid to find out what happens next.
How has your day been?
Quack!