The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 02: A Comma (is a Restful Pause)

[MagicaPractica]

Who wants a latte? I'm making one for myself.

Oooo, me, me! Thanks!

Got through the munchkin's dental work this morning. I'm ready for lunch.

 

[daremo68]

Oooo, me, me! Thanks!

Got through the munchkin's dental work this morning. I'm ready for lunch.

White Chocolate Mocha? Or just a plain latte (I'm afraid I don't have other flavors on hand...)

 

[MagicaPractica]

White Chocolate Mocha? Or just a plain latte (I'm afraid I don't have other flavors on hand...)

Plain is good for me. I always have cinnamon on hand to put on top.

 

[Handley_Page]

Plain is good for me. I always have cinnamon on hand to put on top.

Plain & simple, with real milk, please.

 

[oggbashan]

Coffee needed, please.

I've just taken son-in-law and his drinking partner into Canterbury. My normal route has a closed road with a diversion in place. The diversion route is now closed because of flooding.

The main road is closed for road works and now a burst water main. My alternate back road route is closed for a gas main replacement.

I went a long way round by major roads. On the outskirts of Canterbury there were temporary traffic lights for emergency gas pipe repairs but the lights had a long interval for a twenty yard blockage. The traffic, diverted from the other closed routes, was backed up in both directions.

Closer to Canterbury, the railway level crossing was closed and partially blocked by a disabled Alfa Romeo being loaded onto a recovery truck. A few yards beyond the level crossing, once it had opened, two vehicles had crashed on a small roundabout and were blocking the route I wanted to go down. I went a different way and dropped my passengers to walk the last 100 yards because it would be quicker than waiting for me to negotiate the traffic jam.

When I got through the traffic jam the only clear route had a sign - closed from 10pm to 3am for road works.

They are coming back by bus - they hope.

I need coffee!

 

[Handley_Page]

Coffee needed, please.

I've just taken son-in-law and his drinking partner into Canterbury. My normal route has a closed road with a diversion in place. The diversion route is now closed because of flooding.



They are coming back by bus - they hope.

I need coffee!

'Yer Tiz, my friend.
I suspect you also hope they return by 'bus.

 

[oggbashan]

'Yer Tiz, my friend.
I suspect you also hope they return by 'bus.

Thanks, HP, you're a lifesaver.

The return by bus is a tradition because the bus garage is in our town so the last buses always finish there. They can drink as long as they like without dragging ancient Og out again.

 

[NotWise]

Coffee needed, please.

I've just taken son-in-law and his drinking partner into Canterbury. My normal route has a closed road with a diversion in place. The diversion route is now closed because of flooding.

The main road is closed for road works and now a burst water main. My alternate back road route is closed for a gas main replacement.

I went a long way round by major roads. On the outskirts of Canterbury there were temporary traffic lights for emergency gas pipe repairs but the lights had a long interval for a twenty yard blockage. The traffic, diverted from the other closed routes, was backed up in both directions.

Closer to Canterbury, the railway level crossing was closed and partially blocked by a disabled Alfa Romeo being loaded onto a recovery truck. A few yards beyond the level crossing, once it had opened, two vehicles had crashed on a small roundabout and were blocking the route I wanted to go down. I went a different way and dropped my passengers to walk the last 100 yards because it would be quicker than waiting for me to negotiate the traffic jam.

When I got through the traffic jam the only clear route had a sign - closed from 10pm to 3am for road works.

They are coming back by bus - they hope.

I need coffee!

What a mess! I thought it was bad here.

 

[oggbashan]

What a mess! I thought it was bad here.

It's the school holidays. The authorities schedule all the road works for the time that children aren't at school.

BUT - they don't coordinate the various utility contractors so several routes can be closed at the same time. A few weeks ago they announced that ALL the level crossings along one stretch of railway line would be closed for a whole weekend from 10 pm Friday to 7 am Monday. Apart from one bridge there would have been no way to cross the railway line...

...for 14 miles.

You can imagine what the traffic on that bridge would have been like. To make things worse there were several major events scheduled for that weekend with tens of thousands of extra visitors.

The local councillors and Members of Parliament had overflowing in-boxes and their phone lines were jammed with irate residents objecting.

They changed the arrangements to close one level crossing on a Sunday evening from midnight to 5 am. They did ALL the scheduled work in that time.

Silly B*****s!

More coffee coming.

 

[daremo68]

More coffee coming.

Here, have a latte. Full milk or fat-free? Would you like some sugar?

 

[oggbashan]

Here, have a latte. Full milk or fat-free? Would you like some sugar?

Full but no sugar, please.

Now back to writing. The Muses are getting antsy.

 

[daremo68]

Full but no sugar, please.

Now back to writing. The Muses are getting antsy.

Here you go. Enjoy.

 

[Hypoxia]

We've had a bit of roadwork fun in our area these past few weeks, with our scenic little trans-Sierra 2-lane state highway finally receiving repairs and thus lengthy blockages and delays.

Our road is the alternate route for major San Francisco-Sacramento-Reno-Tahoe highways which are occasionally blocked by landslides -- traffic here can be extreme. As in, every westbound semi / lorry hauling goods into northern California passes 1/4 mile from our back door. And Highway Patrol helicopters flit overhead, monitoring traffic. And emergency vehicles with sirens respond to wrecks etc. Yow.

That's the highway, We live on a steep, narrow, rutted, overgrown dirt side road snaking through the forest. The county received a grant to upgrade it to "emergency evacuation status" meeting CalFire standards -- wide, well-rocked, with trees trimmed back. Moving our small housecar in and out will be easier.

But we'll have more early-morning drunks zooming by trying to dodge checkpoints on the highway. We'll just have to lay out speed bumps to slow-down the buggers. Or maybe we can persuade our local bears to eat them.

Shit, it's nearly mid-afternoon and I've had no coffee yet. No wonder the day sucks. Garcon! Maximo cafe, pronto!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

The main route into Portland is also closed. I know the streets desperately needed repair but I sure am glad I don't have to commute up that way. And with triple digit heat? Even the light rail is creeping along. I'm staying home in the AC, thank-you very much.

 

[sharingfantasies]

It's the school holidays. The authorities schedule all the road works for the time that children aren't at school.

I am not impressed with their illogical planning, except for this point. This impresses me. Where I taught the city would do their repairs in the fall after school had started. Fall in southern California is often the hottest time of the year. So lessons would be happening while the jack hammer outside went on. Then the kids would all get ill when they laid the tar. There is one street that runs past the school. It is always a huge traffic mess before and after school, but the entire neighborhood gets fouled up when the street is closed for repairs. Apparently, there is some new concept that children are incapable of walking to school.

 

[Handley_Page]

It's the school holidays. The authorities schedule all the road works for the time that children aren't at school.

BUT - they don't coordinate the various utility contractors so several routes can be closed at the same time. A few weeks ago they announced that ALL the level crossings along one stretch of railway line would be closed for a whole weekend from 10 pm Friday to 7 am Monday. Apart from one bridge there would have been no way to cross the railway line...

...for 14 miles.
.
.
More coffee coming.

It took our local council a long time to wake up to the fact that digging up the road can inconvenience road users in no small measure. First the Water Board dug up the road and laid a pipe, backfilled the hole and made a neat job of it.
A day passed.
The Electricity Board did exactly the same thing for a new cable.
In roughly the same place.
They eventually backfilled the hole and made a neat job of it.
And then the Gas Board decided to do some real maintenance.
Same effect.

This sort of thing went on for years.
Then logic prevailed.
When someone needs the road up, ALL the utilities are asked to get their act together so that the job is over and done with fairly promptly.

Until there's a different problem. . . .

 

[NotWise]

Apparently, there is some new concept that children are incapable of walking to school.

I've noticed that too, but I think it's part of the new perception of threats to children.

Locally, the city is reconstructing nine miles of the major east-west street (former US 66) as a rapid transit corridor. At least one main intersection has been under nearly constant construction and reconstruction for more than a year.

The rest of it was torn up all at the same time last fall and has remained at best poorly accessible since. Businesses along the route are suffering. The street itself is down to one lane in either direction and crossing streets are also restricted and often completely blocked. Add to that, one street that parallels the main street would usually be an alternate route, but it was rebuilt as a "bicycle avenue" early in the project and it isn't really accessible to cars.

The project seems to be managed to inconvenience the largest number of people for the longest period of time.

Just to sweeten the whole mess, two adjacent blocks of downtown are major construction sites, with cranes and other heavy equipments causing detours and blocking all of the surrounding streets.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Oh Hell. I taught for 23 years and that entire time parents found it necessary to drive their tender darlings the few blocks it took to get them to school. I don't know what the problem was. Didn't the kiddies go to bed at a reasonable hour so they could get up in time to walk/bicycle to school? Was there a unreported rash of kidnapping going on that none of the rest of us heard about. Did they have a genuine fear of the Zombie Apocalypse? And when school was getting in and going home who do you think was expected to direct traffic so the fools wouldn't get run over? Uh-huh.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Oh Hell. I taught for 23 years and that entire time parents found it necessary to drive their tender darlings the few blocks it took to get them to school. I don't know what the problem was. Didn't the kiddies go to bed at a reasonable hour so they could get up in time to walk/bicycle to school? Was there a unreported rash of kidnapping going on that none of the rest of us heard about. Did they have a genuine fear of the Zombie Apocalypse? And when school was getting in and going home who do you think was expected to direct traffic so the fools wouldn't get run over? Uh-huh.

Forgive me, but I'll take the conversation serious for a moment here.

I have a child who is 7 years old. At what age do you have children walk to school on their own? I wouldn't let my child right now, but I'm taking that year by year. I'm sure it depends, in part, on the children themselves. I can't recall when I walked to school on my own but I was five years younger than my next oldest sibling so it was probably sometime between 6 and 8 years old. I started baby sitting around 9 or 10 years old. Some people wouldn't let their 12 year old walk alone.

Now, I would factor in the fact that 1 in 5 or 6 women have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. I suspect those women are going to have a different fear factor when it comes to letting their child walk to school alone. I know I caught holy hell for accepting a ride during a rainstorm from the new female art teacher. I didn't know until years later why that was.

 

[NotWise]

Forgive me, but I'll take the conversation serious for a moment here.

My parents never drove me to school until we moved to a cold climate where the winter weather made the walk a serious threat to my health. I suffered the results of mild frostbite for years.

In elementary school I walked several blocks to and from school. There were kids everywhere and we usually ended up walking in groups.

My wife walked our oldest the two blocks to school, but then when my second daughter started she left them to walk together. They were 6 and 5 at the time. About half way there they would pick up a group of friends and a few more steps they'd be in view of the crossing guards.

It sounds like VM and sharingfantasies see the same thing I see. What has changed since then that makes it more dangerous to walk to school? We actually have more protection for children now than we had then. Personally, I think it's a perception of dangers that don't exist--a sort of parenting paranoia, and maybe an unwillingness to depend on friends and neighbors.

 

[MagicaPractica]

My parents never drove me to school until we moved to a cold climate where the winter weather made the walk a serious threat to my health. I suffered the results of mild frostbite for years.

In elementary school I walked several blocks to and from school. There were kids everywhere and we usually ended up walking in groups.

My wife walked our oldest the two blocks to school, but then when my second daughter started she left them to walk together. They were 6 and 5 at the time. About half way there they would pick up a group of friends and a few more steps they'd be in view of the crossing guards.

It sounds like VM and sharingfantasies see the same thing I see. What has changed since then that makes it more dangerous to walk to school? We actually have more protection for children now than we had then. Personally, I think it's a perception of dangers that don't exist--a sort of parenting paranoia, and maybe an unwillingness to depend on friends and neighbors.

Or perhaps not even knowing those neighbors? I work an hour from home and have only met my neighbors a few times, and not all of them. We keep very different hours.

I was never driven to school either. I'm not sure my mother even had a car when I was little.

Now, we live an eight minute drive to the school so it's unlikely my child will ever walk or even bike there but my husband hasn't even wanted her to ride the same school buses he did as a child because he's "seen what goes on."

 

[NotWise]

Or perhaps not even knowing those neighbors? I work an hour from home and have only met my neighbors a few times, and not all of them. We keep very different hours.

I was never driven to school either. I'm not sure my mother even had a car when I was little.

Now, we live an eight minute drive to the school so it's unlikely my child will ever walk or even bike there but my husband hasn't even wanted her to ride the same school buses he did as a child because he's "seen what goes on."

Yeah, I think not even knowing the neighbors might be what has changed. Compared to when I was young, now we stay inside and watch TV when before it was important to know the people who lived around you. We've lost our sense of community, and (risking a political censure) that might help explain the country's shift to more conservative politics.

If your drive is eight minutes to school, I'd drive her there. Walking doesn't seem like an option.

School buses are probably not more of an issue than the playground. The kids are horrible to each other, but that's normal.

 

[sharingfantasies]

Unless it was pouring down rain or we were running super late, we always walked. But, I grew up in a different world. When I was five, another older boy walked me to school. When I was seven, I was in charge of walking my younger brother and sister to school.

I understand the changes in society, however, the school I was at was in a neighborhood that was tucked back behind the school and a park. There were enough kids going to the school that they should have been able to walk three or four blocks. Everybody was coming to school around the same time and leaving at the same time. We did have a rule that if a child, for some reason was at the school 20 minutes after the bell rang for dismissal, they had to stay at school for someone to come get them as they were not to walk home alone when the streets were fairly empty. But during the first twenty minutes there were 350 kids exiting the school.

I do remember walking to school in the snow (not barefoot) and in hundred degree weather. Every year added another body I was responsible for walking to school. Once I was in junior high, I had to walk alone as the others were still in elementary school. I walked through a major park, down a dirt road, across a bridge over a freeway and up and down two hills. But that was then..

But I still think children in a group should be able to walk back and forth to school as long as there are no major roads to cross. By ten, they should be riding a bike to school. I understand not wanting a child to walk alone. The ironic thing is that many of the children walked or rode their bike to the park, which was directly across from the school or to the market which WAS across a busy street. But they couldn't walk to school.

 

[sr71plt]

I walked to elementary school in the States, but was bused in Germany. Walked to junior high. Was bused to high school--but usually walked home because I stayed late for activities but not as late as the activity bus left school.

There's another wrinkle here. Even bused kids have to be turned over to designated adults at their bus stop. No designated adult, they're taken back to school until a designated adult shows up to pick them up.

 

[daremo68]

But I still think children in a group should be able to walk back and forth to school as long as there are no major roads to cross. By ten, they should be riding a bike to school. I understand not wanting a child to walk alone. The ironic thing is that many of the children walked or rode their bike to the park, which was directly across from the school or to the market which WAS across a busy street. But they couldn't walk to school.

My younger son is in middle school. He has been walking home each day, about 1 mile. He crosses over a busy freeway on a bridge. He gets dropped off in the morning.

And yet a few years ago, he wanted to walk home about two miles from our house. We let him. Someone saw him walking alone and followed him to our house and scolded us for letting him walk a mile.

It is a different world today.