I haven't updated since just before the bridge collapse... I suppose it's time.
I didn't know anyone on the bridge, it seemed so abstract to me. I have built my life carefully to almost never need to rely on car transportation, so I didn't even know where the I-35 crossed the river until I went to investigate.
When I did go to investigate, I was, for the most part, unable to get to any public location from which to get a good look at what happened. I didn't realize just how much... stuff... we have in this city blocking views. If it isn't trees, it's buildings, and if it isn't buildings, it's random slabs of concrete jutting at just the right angle to ruin a good look. The police cordoned off any method of getting close to the wreckage (and by close I mean about two hundred yards or close), and I got threatened with arrest when I slid down to the trainyard to have a gander at the eastern side of the collapse.
Reason I went out today was because yesterday I had read in the paper that the old train bridge that was converted to a walking bridge (I used to cross it when it was an unused train bridge, quite illegally) had been opened to the public yesterday, but there was some sort of outrage over people possibly seeing bodies being recovered from the wreckage, and it was closed well before I got there. Thanks for trying, Mayor Rybak, but it's hard to please the people when they want you to Please Think Of The Children.
So my wanderings ended up at the Red Cross (conveniently located about five hundred yards from the bridge collapse), and I was able to make a walk-in appointment. Thus, my anger over not being respected enough to actually look at the most significant disaster to have struck my city during my lifetime was drained away along with a pint of blood, and completely annihilated by free cookies and grape juice.
I'm going to go lie down now.
I didn't know anyone on the bridge, it seemed so abstract to me. I have built my life carefully to almost never need to rely on car transportation, so I didn't even know where the I-35 crossed the river until I went to investigate.
When I did go to investigate, I was, for the most part, unable to get to any public location from which to get a good look at what happened. I didn't realize just how much... stuff... we have in this city blocking views. If it isn't trees, it's buildings, and if it isn't buildings, it's random slabs of concrete jutting at just the right angle to ruin a good look. The police cordoned off any method of getting close to the wreckage (and by close I mean about two hundred yards or close), and I got threatened with arrest when I slid down to the trainyard to have a gander at the eastern side of the collapse.
Reason I went out today was because yesterday I had read in the paper that the old train bridge that was converted to a walking bridge (I used to cross it when it was an unused train bridge, quite illegally) had been opened to the public yesterday, but there was some sort of outrage over people possibly seeing bodies being recovered from the wreckage, and it was closed well before I got there. Thanks for trying, Mayor Rybak, but it's hard to please the people when they want you to Please Think Of The Children.
So my wanderings ended up at the Red Cross (conveniently located about five hundred yards from the bridge collapse), and I was able to make a walk-in appointment. Thus, my anger over not being respected enough to actually look at the most significant disaster to have struck my city during my lifetime was drained away along with a pint of blood, and completely annihilated by free cookies and grape juice.
I'm going to go lie down now.
Look at it....doesnt it just....POP!...?