Reporters, it can be agreed, are extremely focused people. But put them on a tight deadline and they can approach hell-bent single-mindedness, oblivious to the real world, and in a panic to get the story done on time (or so we like our bosses to think.)

Cut to a Harper speech in Summerside, P.E.I. this week and the Prime Minister building to a verbal crescendo, when a hugely loud kaboom stuns the packed room. Terrorist attack? Another prank by the folks at 22 Minutes? Not quite.

A network TV reporter rushing madly toward the auditorium, deadline looming, and in the zone (reading and writing while running and rehearsing) had charged straight into a floor-to-ceiling plate of glass, thinking it was an open door to the crowded room.

The reporter (who shall not be named here to save life-long embarrassment) was unhurt. Harper himself stopped by later to check up on him.

Back at the auditorium, someone quietly taped a big piece of paper to the big and unbroken window as a courtesy - and warning — to the rest of us.

Funny things, those deadlines.

— Paul Hunter