The Newtown Pentacle

Friday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Oakland to the Monongahela River

Hey, that’s PITT’s Cathedral of Learning pictured above. Lookit that.

As described in a prior post, your humble narrator attended a walking tour of Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, conducted by the ‘bikePGH’ outfit – who are the local incarnation of the ‘bicycle people.’

In general, they’re a lot nicer in person than the analogue group you’ll encounter in NYC, the ones who styled themselves as ‘Transportation Alternatives.’ With a few exceptions, I always found the TA people to be blowhard keyboard warriors, and ideologues. They would show up looking for a fight, and would start one if they didn’t encounter opposition towards their goals. They fund raise on hostility.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Saying that, one of the TA ideologues in Queens is who the inspiration for my Toyota’s name comes from – the ‘Mobile Oppression Platform.’ Same person once described a driver sticking a key in the ignition of a motor vehicle as then ‘existing in a state of pre-murder.’

Honestly, they’re so good at this sort of deceptive and inflammatory political language that they should consider joining the Republican Party. Bah!

While heading for the river via Forbes Avenue, and ruminating, an unnecessarily Brutalist academic building was encountered. Whenever I see this sort of architecture, my first thought goes to ‘Conquest of the Planet of the Apes’ for some reason. Yuck.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

There are quite a few places in Pittsburgh where taking a walk can mean a street crossing can likely end your life. To wit, this is the ‘ass end’ of Forbes Avenue, where it just sort of terminates at a highway off ramp.

Another one of the routes that I commonly drive through, that’s I-376 down there, an east/west high speed road which leads to the Squirrel Hill Tunnel on one side (it continues on, and on, after the tunnel) and to the Fort Pitt Tunnel on the other.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Saying all that, the TA people back home are – in fact – right about certain things. So are their analogues here in Pittsburgh.

I’ve mentioned a few times that driving the roads out here in Pittsburgh are kind of like the Wild West, with little, or no enforcement of traffic law by the local gendarmerie. It’s common for people to travel along at 80 mph, on a highway with a posted limit of 40, thereby. When drivers come to an off ramp/exit, and enter the local streets, their vehicles are often doing so at highway speeds. It’s madness.

So… notice the cross walk paint on that off ramp? Yup.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I still can’t run for any protracted distance, but I do have my ‘burst’ speed back, post ‘orthopedic incident.’ See? Haven’t mentioned it in weeks.

The ankle still hurts, all the time. It’s a dull ache sort of thing, and while out for long walks a few distinct annoyances pop up. A cramp, or some part of the affected foot will start announcing itself to my nervous system, soreness, and every now and then a clicking sensation as a tendon pulls itself over the surgically inserted metallic hardware I now own down there. When I get back to HQ and doff my shoes, that’s when it gets fun.

Saying all that, I can walk pretty long distances again.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Man… me and mine always railed on about the way that the FDR drive cut New Yorkers off from their waterfront back home. Look at this… these highways and their ramps are the Theodosian Walls of cutting off any sort of access to the river. Sheesh.

Saying that, love taking pics of this sort of thing. Massing shapes and geometries…

Back next week with more.

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