Tuesday, 7 April 2020

A LITTLE LESS THAN TWO METERS FOR MOST OF YOU


A sign in Forest Park. The city closed some roads in the parks to car traffic where too many people were congregating too closely. Otherwise, the parks are open for walking, running and biking. St. Louis County, which is a separate political entity, closed its parks altogether. That may be a bit over the top.

The occasional rant: it's so stupid that this country, and it alone, has not adopted the metric system. Why? For starters, we're a bit geographically isolated. We have only two international land borders. Canada has 10% of our population so we often ignore it. Mexico is held in contempt by our national administration (why else the wall?). Too many Americans think of Mexicans as purveyors of burritos and tequila, non-union construction workers and gardeners. It's systemic racism. Everybody else is a good sized plane ride away. So here we are - big, a bit off to ourselves and not giving a damn. We don't have to.            

Monday, 6 April 2020

TRAIN TIME


The Midwest is criss crossed by train tracks. It's almost all freight. We can get to Kansas City and Chicago from here by rail but it's so slow that you're better off driving. The freight  tracks run right through our town. 

Even with our not-so-strict rules, I'm tired of sitting at home. Went out for a walk yesterday afternoon and had the luck of finding tons of metal crossing one of our main streets.

The reference in the title is to some music from a long time ago. Listen to https://youtu.be/wX9muArmeFg , and pay attention to Ginger Baker's drumming.   

Sunday, 5 April 2020

GRADING ON THE CURVE


Hardly anyone out. Almost alone when I went to the newish north side of the Arch's park, which replaced a parking garage (which was convenient and cheap). I mostly don't like the new design but I think this corner is interesting, with its curved ramp and the many arches of Eads Bridge.         

Socialize? Sure!


Not specific to St. Louis but anyway...

Families don't get to spent time together these days. My family is spread across the country anyway. One of my intelligent relations organized a family get-together on Zoom yesterday. Three months ago I had never heard of Zoom. We got people on there from Manhattan to San Francisco. By the time we had finished yakking the meeting had devolved into cocktail hour. Oh, and everyone is well.       

Saturday, 4 April 2020

WHEN YOUR OPTIONS ARE LIMITED


There's a sort of dopey saying that if life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Life hasn't given me Covid 19 as of this writing but it's not doing any good for mobility. The blog is a hungry beast and I need images to feed it. Look more carefully. This is just my neighborhood, with the sunset making a convenient St. Louis-henge.         
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