One Small Picture, One Big Story

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this picture is worth a few words of explanation.

It was taken in Oxford on a busy corner. Notice the narrow street. This is a very busy street with coach size busses turning as the streets become a pedestrian area. The signal lights become crucial as clueless tourists try to cross.

As I stood on this corner, I was hearing a workman bragging "look at what I got done!".

"So you are the one mucking up the street "

So he told me the whole story. It seems that a crucial underground wire controlling the signal has failed. It was probably installed just after WWII. Not a bad lifespan.

But

That underground wire goes under that bit of scaffolding. That is the corner piece of a 4 story scaffolding that wraps around a block size building, half way through a 2 to 3 year project.

Go back and look at that photo again. And see the bigger picture.

Comments

Piorama Bag Review

I am always seeking the perfect bag, so I was delighted to do a review on this duffel. I hate reviews that feature "The Unboxing". I really don't care how it arrives, and I don't care how pretty the features are. I want to know how will it preform in the field, especially under stressful conditions. Just FIY I did not receive any free product from them, but they did give me a discount. The opinions here are my own, and the photos are mostly my own. Piorama has designed a duffel bag that collapses into itself. This allows the bag to be configured for under seat, overhead, or checked sizes. As my trips often have more stuff in one direction than the other, I had high hopes for this bag. I ordered two different styles the A10 and the S3. I got the A10 for myself. It is their middle of the road bag. The next step up is the B3 , which is more back pack than I am able to use at almost 70 years old. As far as I can see, there are two major...

Bosch Parade June 2024 unfinished

Please note I haven't yet finished this piece. There are some technical things i have to learn, but my illness last fall has slowed the process. But i want it to be in the list at this point, so here it is in its rough form. Any event based on inspirations from the work of Hieronymus Bosch is bound to be a bit weird. Add to this my inability to understand a lot of the world around me, stuff like immersive art of the modern sort, the internet, and Dutch, and it gets even weirder. Having been in 's-Hertogenbosch I have a bit more of an understanding. I recommend reading my post on the town for that perspective. To understand the parade, one must understand 's-Hertogenbosch and vice versa. I have put together a separate post to describe the town and museum. I am not a proficient photographer, nor am I a historian. I also claim no expertise in art or art movements. So this offering is a personal sketch of one of the finer odd parades I have attended,...

Aberdyfi, Aberdovey, UK

So much is written about all of the big stuff around the UK, and yeah it is grand. But I think the one of the finest things one can do is to spend a couple of quiet days at a seaside town. This is a short piece about a day I spent at Aberdyfi. Aberdyfi is a very Welsh town tucked in at the mouth of the River Dyfi. There is not a lot of flash and fancy there, but everything there is such a perfect example of a great traditional village. One gets there by train on one of the loveliest route. Catch the train in Shrewsbury. Make sure to ask a conductor if you are in the right car as the train splits one part going north, the other south to Aberystwyth. (Note: you risk permanent damage to your tongue if you try to pronounce some of the towns on the way.) Or if you insist, drive in thru Machynlleth or down the coast. The main draw is the beach. The estuary is huge, and full of the estuary kind of the stuff one would hope to find. Boats, osprey, fish, water, mud. ...

Bad Knees Travel

Search This Blog