Friday, December 03, 2010

Left, Right and Left again

So, after many months of construction work, barricades and pedestrian mayhem, the new bus route in the city is finally complete.
The bus route in question saw the conversion of a pedestrain mall into a two lane bus route to help speed up the circuit. The leftist pedestrians came out in full force early on in a bid to save their precious mall. These tree hugging hippies would write screeds of waffling text in pink chalk all along the mall, sprouting damnation to the government who apparently had forgotten the common man.

Personally I didn't subscribe to that ilk, and rather looked forward to the busses which would replace the deliquints who loitered in the mall and enhance the area generally with new paving, benches and trees.
Now that its all complete, I think its a huge improvement all around.
There are trees planted down the road, which now hosts two new bus lanes, instead of the once cracked and rather tired looking mall with its grey paving and weathered benches. The new paving along both sides looks fantastic and has already given the whole place a new lift. Even the dodgy turkish joint looks almost appealing. New benches have been installed and everything is fresh and new. I like it, and I dont care if the hippies dont.

Of course, it didnt take long for graffiti to show up on the new benches, and that beloved pink chalk to once again proclaim (on the new road surface) that someone is going to be killed by a bus. It amazes me how narrow minded people are. Graffiti in particular I think is the purest form of non-appreciation for what we have and a complete disregard for our neighbours.
The pink chalk I can tolerate - it washes away within a couple of days and does no harm. I have to confess too that 3 people in the last 5 days have been knocked by a bus, which does in some way vindicate the incessant ramblings of the chalk man. Though I do have to make the point that it's not the new route - or the busses that pass through it - that are at fault.

The city council has done a commendable job of making people aware of the new changes. Signs are everywhere, people have been out in full force handing out pamphlets, and there are clear markings on the sidewalk. With all this spoonfeeding, how anyone can be hit by a bus is beyond me. Did our brains shrivel in the last 6 months or what ? This may be just me, but I dont care where in the world you are, or what road you are about to cross - you look both ways before putting your little toe onto the tarmac - that's just common sense. If someone is so stupid as to walk into a road without checking their left and right for traffic, Im afraid the ensuing bump on the head will probably not do any damage anyway.

And another thing chalkman, the new route and changes didnt happen overnight as if the traffic fairy waved her luminous baton. Construction took months to complete. Did people just not notice? Who were these three people that were hit by a bus? And more importantly, who the hell let them out of the house ?

2 comments:

s. said...

Is this satire?

Scotty said...

Old habits I guess. I agree. I love the new bus route, but think once people get used to it this lane will be brilliant. I already love what it has done to the old Manners Mall, it makes it seem nice again.