Day: August 4, 2019

 

August 2, 2019

Friday morning I drove back in to St. John’s to take more photos (and eat more yummy food) and I decided to park way up on one of the higher residential streets and gradually work my way down to the water. I found a street with a 2-hour free parking zone and as I pulled in to the furthest forward of two open spaces I noticed this situation which brings to mind a photo I saw online recently (and which I had seen similarly depicted a few months ago).

The parking zone sign and white line on the pavement clearly shows that this is a legitimate parking spot. But look closely – there is also a fire hydrant (and sign) near the front of the space. A dilemma.

This scenario didn’t end well for the owner of a car in Halifax, Canada about 2 weeks ago when they parked in front of a fire hydrant and, as misfortune would have it, a fire broke out nearby. The firemen broke the car windows to get the hose through the car in order to extinguish the fire.

(Photo credit: globalnews.ca)

When this was reported in the news the authorities were still deciding whether or not to reimburse the car owner for damages. Although it was a clearly marked parking spot, the presence of the fire hydrant made it a no parking zone.

I had heard of another similar event from Anaheim, California back in February but in researching this post it was evidently a “watch and learn” exercise to help inform the public.

(Photo credit: thestar.com)

As you can see from the photo below, I moved my car BACK one space before leaving it for my walking photo shoot and eating tour, and it was thankfully intact when I returned about 2 1/2 hours later.

 

 

August 4, 2019

This is a variation of something I found online while doing research for this trip.  I was looking for a map of the northeast US and the Maritime provinces of Canada to post on the blog and show, in true scale, where I was going to be.

(Photo credit dailyhive.com)

In the map above, each state, province and region has three words or phrases which were evidently gleaned from Google Incognito searches performed in the US in 2016. Enlarge and or zoom in on the map, or print it out to read the fine print.  By the way, you should be able to right-click on any of the photos I post (mine or those found online, like this one) and save them to your own computer where you may view or manipulate them.

For example, North Carolina, where I live, had these three things:

Humid, Racist, Stupid

(And let me stop right here and say that these views do NOT reflect those of JohnBoy or the blog!)

The Southeast US in general:

Poor, Religious, Humid

Some are rather humorous (check Kentucky) and some had few, if any, responses (check Labrador and the Maritimes in general).

My friends Eric and Shawn recently traveled to three countries in Europe to celebrate a milestone anniversary and I changed the rules a little and asked them to formulate three impressions about those three cities or countries based on their short time there.  I plan to do the same for the areas I am visiting and will post my thoughts on the Maritimes (individually and collectively) after I have been to PEI and have seen more of New Brunswick.  Later I will add my thoughts on the small portions of Quebec and Ontario provinces that I will be seeing before going home.

A fun little game you can play at home to pass the time between blog posts (especially since yesterday was a travel day – car, and today is another travel day – ferry).