Best and Worst of the Week

Most years you remember what happened when because you were freezing cold, or you were trudging through snow, or you were wearing flip flops for the first time even though it was not actually warm enough. This year, I have no idea what happened when or if time is moving at all. But I like it! I knew climate change would turn Minnesota into Malibu if I waited long enough.

And so I have a week of random photos, and have lost all sense of time. Were these all this week? I think so!

Worst. Huge parking. Can you guess what this shop sells? No, because you are only going there for the HUGE PARKING LOT. Btw, they are not under construction.

Best. Wall-E saves the planet. Something about seeing this little robot on the construction scene makes me believe we will be able to grow little green plants here again someday. (He actually is a robot with a remote control, but I have no idea what he does on the job.)

Worst. On-street parking on the 4th Street tracks. I would like to quote the wise Seth Meyers who once said...Really?! Really. Really. Oh yeah, well, we got your plates, twerp.

 
Best. Skyway signage. Did DSI put up this sign outside their office as a joke? Because it is freaking hilarious. No stopping! LOITERING BAD. Moving good. No sitting! NO EATING. Keep moving! Hallway/skyway! CITY ORDINANCE. This will never get old.

Worst. Granite pavers. These are too heavy to take with me on the 16, and yet they are sitting right here at my bus stop. Please stop teasing me.

Best. Spring has sprung. The first green buds on the trees on south side of the street (planted last fall) have started to pop.

Worst. Construction is insane. See also, "Best. Construction is hustling down the Avenue." Witness.

Best. Unintentional street art. Somebody please irrigate this already.

Total clarity

Some of us thought that the bus stop closures would cease in our neighborhood after heavy construction, but we were wrong. Now that Prospect Park construction has started, the traffic transitions (read: closures) are set up all the way to Berry Street. I suppose that's what I get for living in border country.

But what I love most about our liminal existence is the extreme clarity that Metro Transit provides so that we can find our bus stops everyday.

Posted at Berry Street: "The 8 bus either does or does not stop here. Hard to say. If it doesn't, it might stop down at Eustis. But don't worry, if you happen to miss it, it be back in only 30 minutes. Thank you for playing our game."

 Creepy Minnesota Opera lady looks annoyed...

Posted at Eustis: "Silly rider, I can't believe you fell for that! You should probably start waiving frantically at the approaching 8 bus, making your most pathetic face in hopes that some newbie driver will pity you. Thanks for playing our game."

 
Other things of note this morning: I see that the Hamline EB bus stop is up and functioning, and that Walsh has really outdone themselves this time. They've added luxurious grocery cart parking spaces on the temporary platforms. Who says this project isn't adding on-street parking? And does this gentleman know he is taking up a whole parking space? Sheesh.

It's baaaack

Mark Twain once said that the coldest winter he'd ever spent was a summer in Duluth. Oh how far we've come.

Today, in what seems to be the new norm, we topped off at a blistering 41 degrees. I'll have you know that's only 6 degrees off my personal flip flop tolerance. You see, 47 feels like 74 after a long winter - once the puddles are gone there's no reason to continue putting yourself through the agony of wearing socks. It's all relative in Minnesota...normally.

And then there's this year. Wait, are we having better weather over our winter construction break than we had last summer? It was so tropical this week that crews were pouring concrete on the downtown Central Station, with what seems to be an excessively tall concrete spewing bendy straw machine (technical name).



Please insert LRT here:



In a couple weeks, we'll be back in the swing of tearing up the Avenue and putting in more rail. Construction officially restarts March 1st. Yikes.


p.s. Love that the 4th & Cedar construction site appears to have some sort of internal parking problem - that's so Central Corridor!



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