I was at work less than three hours when there was announcement of an evacuation due to a gas leak around the intersection in front of my office building. People could smell gas despite the fact that our windows don’t open, which meant the fumes were creeping up through the ventilation system via the outside ducts. Firetrucks and emergency vehicles were already on the street, and the block was cordoned off to pedestrians and street traffic. Everyone spilled out onto the streets and the people in my branch gathered around our meeting point, waiting for news of when we could return to the office. We didn’t have any, so a bunch of us went for lunch nearby and returned an hour later for more news at 1:30. There was only a brief update without a message to go home, so we decided to return to the meeting point at 2:30, but shortly afterwards a bulletin was issued for everyone to return to work on Tuesday. Anyone deciding they had to retrieve something from the building had to do so at their own risk.

So that’s how the long weekend began early! No complaints here, although I hope they find the problem and get it resolved — the last thing anyone wants is to have their workplace blown to smithereens. I left my desk in a haphazard state (including my sunglasses and mobile phone charger), which is hopefully how I’ll find it on Tuesday.