Weather causes problems

Snowy days are nothing new to Ontarians, but with snow usually comes danger especially on transportation lines. Last week, while I was in Toronto a blizzard hit the city and I later found out there was a CN train derailment in Pickering. The office workers in Toronto found out about the accident via the Web so many bosses sent their employees home.
As I headed to the train station there was already a large line-up at the GO booth. I waited for the train along with a hundreds of others. When the train finally arrived people all pushed into the train. I have never seen this in Canada before, it totally reminded me of Tokyo. You see Canadians usually aren't accustomed to squeezing themselves onto trains. I couldn't force myself onto a train, I had no desire to be so close to strangers. I thus waited for the next train, which luckily was already on another track.
The train conductor was friendly and told us "If you hold on to your hats and be kind to your neighbour you will get to your destination safely." I wasn't worried about making it home, I was more surprised about how many people were sent home.
I wondered if this would happen in Japan, I mean what a loss in productivity!
I know trains don't stop running at 4 p.m. in the city and I'm sure if people were sent home at the usual time they would still make it back.
But hey this is Canada, much more lax than Japan.
As the train passed by the CN train accident there were loads of "ooos and aaas"
one woman commented, "It's like we're on a bus tour."
I agree with her, and I wish I had my camera with me on that day. As I had predicted I made it back to Whitby and headed back the rest of the way by the Beetle. Driving stick-shift in the snow isn't that easy.