The Newtown Pentacle

Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After traipsing all over Pittsburgh during a longish scuttle, your humble narrator found himself heading into more familiar territory along the Monongahela River. Another not so friendly to pedestrians route was chosen, this one paralleling a series of high speed roads which operate in a trench. Pictured above, in the distance, is a traffic machine called the ‘Fort Pitt Bridge.’

Every GPS navigation package you can think of directs all the traffic in Pittsburgh going to and from the South Hills region onto the Fort Pitt Bridge and tunnel. There are two other perfectly acceptable highway paths you can take out of the central section of Pittsburgh towards the South Hills, which deposit you in more or less the same area on the other side of Mount Washington, I’d mention. Saying that, all of the ‘maps’ apps just love sending traffic to that very congested bridge and tunnel.

The Fort Pitt bridge offers what I consider to be one of the worst traffic interchanges in the entire country. It’s an ‘X,’ and the thousands of cars and trucks an hour which cross it and enter that tunnel having to negotiate a diagonal merge in a surprisingly short interval.

As I’ve intoned earlier, the driving culture of Pittsburgh is absolute brutality, so this ain’t pretty.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Moving easterly, the mirror face of the PPG Plaza building caught my eye as it threw reflection of the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself around. Disdain for the memory of architect Philip Johnson blossomed in my mind.

The plan for the rest of the day involved heading over to familiar territory at the Sly Fox Brewery where I’d hopefully get to see a train go by.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The Smithfield Street Bridge is a wonderful touchstone. The original bridge here was designed by John Roebling, and when it needed an upgrade they hired Gustav Lindenthal to do it. The bridge’s piers are original to the Roebling version, and the tension spring upper steel is Lindenthal’s.

Roebling, of course, designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge. Lindenthal is the mastermind behind the Queensboro Bridge. I quickened my stride.

I was heading for the brewery, after all, and was fairly thirsty by this point. I also needed to make ‘wee-wee.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A pint of lager in hand, and after a trip to the loo, one settled in and waited for the signal chimes to start ringing at Sly Fox Brewery. It took maybe twenty minutes of waiting before CSX #4749 exploded into view.

HEY NOW!

It’s a 2003 vintage ‘EMD SD70MAC.’ A 16 cylinder engine in the locomotive produces some 4,000 HP of thrust, and it is said to offer a top speed of 70 mph.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It had been a nice, long walk. Lots of ups and downs, long distances, and mostly flat. What was desired was attained, which was to do some shooting while subjecting my gamey ankle to a longish walk.

As you’re reading this, remember that exactly one year ago today I was still confined to a wheelchair, and experiencing ghastly amounts of pain. The injury was more than just orthopedic, as lots of soft tissue damage had occurred too. Suffice to say that I learned about a new one during this experience – pressure blisters. Felt like a burn, but under the cast.

I just can’t stop remembering that right about now. Trauma, yo.

Adding in that I was all doped up on opioid pain killers, this situation wasn’t at all pretty. All I could do, besides watching a Turk soap opera about the Ottomans, was dream about recovery, and getting back to doing…

…This…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

As the saying goes: Life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans, right?

Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.