Earlier this afternoon, I experienced one of those situations where time seems to stand still, and you don’t fully process what happened until after everything is over. The scene is this: downstairs in the Guy-Concordia metro station, around 4pm local time. The narrator of the story walks down the last flight of stairs to see the train on the opposite side pulling away, and settles in to wait for his own train to arrive by leaning against the wall. Enter stage left, on the opposite side of the railway from our narrator, an old man who bears a passing resemblance to a much older and less-well-kept George Carlin. The man is apparently homeless and seems mentally unstable, as he has been spotted in the very same metro station before. He is also very animated, perhaps even drunk, as on both occasions he has taken to waving his arms and flailing about, grumbling and shouting at nothing in particular.

Having finished waving and shouting at the departed train, the old man now returns to his flailing and dancing. After a few moments of this however he seems to tire, and moves to sit down on the floor. He then takes another few steps, and sits down on the very edge of the platform, with his legs dangling a few feet above the railway.

This is an extremely dangerous position to adopt, as the Montréal metro system does not have any barricade at the edge of the platform, not are there any coverings over the electrically charged rails below. If someone were to fall the four or five feet from the platform onto the rails, they would be instantly electrocuted. Cautionary signs to this effect are sprinkled every twenty metres or so on the rails themselves: “Caution, 750 volts.” There are also several emergency switches located on both sides of the railway in every station, which will shut off all electricity to the rails to at least minimize a victim’s length of exposure.

The old man seems unfazed by all of this though, and continues looking off in the direction of the vanished train, swinging his legs back and forth as he sits. Then in the rhythm of the swinging of his legs, with a single fluid motion he plants both of his hands firmly on the edge of the platform and pushing off, drops from the platform and lands within the railway itself, mere inches from the live, metal rails. Our narrator’s eyes widen with complete disbelief; he is frozen in place as he watches this man, utterly oblivious to his apparent danger, as he then begins to walk across to the other side. The man lifts his leg over the first length of thick, knee-high metal, and his loose-fitting jeans almost brush against the edge. Standing bow-legged, he then lifts his other leg over, again avoiding the rail and almost certain death by only a few inches. He now stands in the very middle of the tracks, equidistant from both sides. In front of him is an identical set of rails to the ones he has just cleared. Without breaking stride he again reaches first one leg over, and then the other, for the second time narrowly avoiding electrocution.

The narrator is still frozen in place, this whole transaction having taken only moments to unfold, and is so transfixed by the old man’s careless demeanour that he does not notice another even more immediate danger fast approaching. Several people nearby gasp openly, as the front of the second train is now cleary visibly at the far end of the station. The old man is reaching up, grasping onto the edge of the platform, and still oblivious to his plight, both past and imminent. He hoists himself partially up, avoiding the fourth and final set of rails underfoot. The train continues rushing forward, the driver only now able to make out what is happening before him, and certainly not left with enough time to brake the train in time. The narrator takes a step forward, but the old man is too far away. Two people in front of the old man have the presence of mind to act, a male and female student, and both run forward. They grab him, one taking him by the arm and the other clawing at his shirt, and as one they pull him as fast and as hard as they can out of the way of the train, and onto the safety of the platform above.

Bizarrely, a scuffle ensues. The old man resents being man-handled, and takes a half-hearted swing at the male student. The student wrestles the old man to the ground, waiting for his friends to board the train before letting the old man up, who is still grumbling and waving intermittently. The car doors all stay open and the train itself is slow in pulling away. The driver no doubt has to report the incident before he can continue on his route. Everyone in the car watches the old man stumble down the platform, turning around every few steps to shout and gesticulate angrily at the two students who quite likely saved his life.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 30th, 2007 at 4:40 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.