There’s a scene in the movie 2010 in which
the crew of the Alexei Leonov sends a probe down to Jupiter’s moon Europa, only
to have the probe vapourized for intruding. Not long afterwards they send out
Max in a small space craft to approach the Monolith in orbit, and the same
thing happens.
P-Doug and I have been experiencing
something like this in our recent attempts to update the photos of the work
going on on Duffy’s Lane at the Humber.
I’m not sure when we were last out there in
2013. Sometime in the autumn, of course; but I can’t remember exactly when.
Naturally our inclination to do these little hikes drops off with the
temperature, but we did go back out there in January. The gate was open, so,
stupidly, we decided to drive down a bit instead of walking. But the roadway
was covered with ice. Prudently (if belatedly), we stopped before we got too
far, only to find there was no way we were getting the car back up under our
own steam. It took a tow truck pulling another tow truck pulling the car, three
or four hours later, to get us back up on a driveable surface. We didn’t get
anywhere near the bridge work that day and the entire thing was a mega-bust all
around.
We went back in March, this time proceeding
on foot. A lot of work had been done, but the road was an increasing sea of mud
the further we went. We got within about 20 yards of the bridge before deciding
that was a close as we and our dry shoes wanted to get. So, a partial success,
but again, we didn’t reach the bridge and got no really good shots of the new
supports being put up.
Saturday, the last weekend in May, we
headed out again. This time we were convinced we’d do okay. The weather’s been
warm and dry, and Saturday was no exception. We parked up at the barrier and
headed down on foot. The view was
spectacular! They’ve done so much work. The new roadway is being bermed up.
There are at least five supports in place now. The course of the road on the
far side of the river is clear and was, in fact, being worked on when we were
there. I got some great follow-up shots to the same views as in March… but…
just as we were approaching the bridge and ready to make some real headway for
the first time in half a year, a pick-up truck came down the road and a
security guy politely let us know we couldn’t be there for safety reasons.
Damn!
P-Doug took the opportunity, at least, to
ask some questions about the plans for the site, and we learned that the old
bridge will indeed become part of the trail system; there’ll be a place to
park; the wide detour to the south on the west side is going to be the trail to
the old bridge; the new bridge is being built for four lanes but initially will
carry only two till the need for more is there;
the connection at Hwy 50 will be a roundabout; and the route’s due to
re-open this October. I’d like to get out there and get some more shots
sometime when they’re not working; both of the bridge area and, when it gets
rolling, the connection at Hwy 50. There’s going to have to be a temporary
detour there and I think that alone will make for some interesting shots for
people in the future to see.
For now, though, time keeps passing, work
keeps progressing, but my record of it remains pretty lackluster.
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