Thursday, February 01, 2007

Theme Day: What Bugs Me Most About My City


Photo & Text Copyright 2007 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

What bugs me most in Seattle? Steel Plates in the Road: Many parts of Seattle seem to be under complete construction. A crane almost hit my car with a load on a pallet the other day. . .no flag person to be seen and traffic going full bore while the crane operator dangled a hook at curbside between the sidewalk and the street, lifted a pallet of bags of concrete, which swung toward me and dangled right overhead. If it's not a building going up, it's the street torn up and huge steel plates going on for blocks, some not settled completely. . .very noisy and jarring, and impossible to ride my bike on.

Now you can see what bugs folks all around the world. . .will there be a theme within this theme? Tour the world and find out by clicking the sites below. 50 cities are participating today, and we're all in different time zones, so keep that in mind as you travel the sites:

1 (Porto (Portugal) ) -2 (Stayton, OR (USA) ) -3 (Albuquerque, NM (USA) ) -4 (Tenerife (Spain) ) -5 (Greenville, SC (USA) ) -6 (Dubai (U.A.E.) ) -7 (Evry (France) ) -8 (Jakarta (Indonesia) ) -9 (London (UK) ) -10 (Sequim, WA (USA) ) -11 (Buenos Aires, (Argentina) ) -12 (Seattle, WA (USA) ) -13 (Minneapolis, MN (USA) ) -14 (Stavanger (Norway) ) -15 (Joplin , MO (USA) ) -16 (Nelson, New Zealand ) -17 (Milano, Italy ) -18 (Singapore (KeropokMan) ) -19 (La Antigua Guatemala (Guatemala) ) -20 (Nottingham UK ) -21 (Singapore by Zannnie (Singapore) ) -22 (Budapest (Hungary) ) -23 (Not Strictly Seattle, WA (USA) ) -24 (Bandung (Indonesia) ) -25 (Vantaa (Finland) ) -26 (Hyde (UK) ) -27 (Madrid by Dsole (Spain) ) -28 (Oulu (Finland) ) -29 (Saarbruecken (Germany) ) -30 (St. Paul [Carol] ) -31 (Sydney (Australia) ) -32 (Tokyo (Japan) ) -33 (Kyoto (Japan) ) -34 (Trujillo (Peru) ) -35 (Shanghai (China) ) -36 (Rotterdam (NL) ) -37 (Chicago, IL (USA) ) -38 (Nice, (France) ) -39 (Naples, Florida (USA) ) -40 (Hong Kong ) -41 (Santa Clara, CA (USA) ) -42 (Quito, Ecuador (South America) ) -43 (Cottage Grove, MN (USA) ) -44 (Paris, (France) ) -45 (Manila (Philippines) ) -46 (Brussels (Belgium) ) -47 (Auckland (New Zealand) ) -48 (Newcastle upon Tyne (England)) -49 (Houston, TX (USA) ) -50 (Sydney by Nathalie (Australia)) -

14 comments:

Olivier said...

voila un theme interessant, j'ai faillit en faire aussi mon theme.

veiled an interesting topic, I have failed to also make my topic of it.

Ham said...

Thankfully we tend not to do that here. Are you riding a road bike? In London I only ride my mountain bike, because of the condition of the roads. I broke two spokes last week :-(

Kim said...

Oh man, that must have been some pot hole! I used to have a 10 speed touring bike with narrow tires which would really be a pain riding here in the rain and ice. Now I have a touring bike with tires a bit wider, but not as rugged as a mountain bike's. My husband rides a fixed gear bike everywhere, and I don't know how he does it because these hills kill me. Wherever these plates are installed there are huge caution signs warning motorcyclists to beware. Very treacherous.
-Kim

Kim said...

Louz, the steel plates are temporary covers for large trenches they've dug for repairs to sewers and the like. They don't put anything on the plates, which become very slick in the rain. After the trenches are filled back in, then the road is repaired with new asphalt and the steel plates are taken away.
-Kim

Deb said...

You're right Kim....there seems to be a theme-within-a-theme around the world. I've noticed several road-construction annoyances!

Unknown said...

lots of road works and lots of steel plates coverings as well in singapore.

we know how you feel :-(

Anonymous said...

The part I liked most about your post was "impossible to ride my bike on". I did not see that coming ... Steel plants are not pleasant and I worry about damage they may cause to the tires on my car. So I agree with your pet peeve.

Ben Nakagawa said...

It was scary (about crane you mentioned). They should pay more attention for safety for both road users and workers.

~tanty~ said...

Sounds very bad to me :(
We choose almost the same topic for the theme :)

Dsole said...

oh yes, that's very annoying... but at least you can ride your bike.. in Madrid it's very dangerous because it's a city for cars.. I hope someone change the system... but that will mean lots of works in the roads... Nice shot, kim!

Anonymous said...

It really is so noisy and just generally disruptive! And I agree, Great minds do think alike!

Sally said...

Ohh, as a cyclist that must be really, really annoying - and a moveable feast of annoyance too!

Anonymous said...

Ugh...construction is a big huge pain, but those steel plates are the worst! I've even managed to trip on them while simply walking. (Maybe that's just because I am a klutz?)

angela said...

I've noticed other complaints about road works and I too hate those steel plates. I'm always worried about damaging my tyres.
Angela