It was warm and without much wind so I headed off towards Minneapolis. I passed through the Fair Grounds and discovered that the Living Green Expo is on there for this weekend. Perhaps in celebration of this event the Fair has opened new bike lanes on Cosgrove Street, a street that I usually ride up when I am over there and also the main location for Living Green Expo-sure.
I had a very Bike Snob NYC moment when shortly after discovering the new bike lane I discovered someone parked in it.
I rode around to the front and discovered, as I feared, that there isn't even any good reason for that truck and trailer to be using the bike lane. He just didn't want to take the time to pull all the way over to the completely available curb space.
Because as everyone who is living green knows, trucks and trailers are way more important than bicycles and can go ahead and usurp bicycle space each and every time that they find doing so makes the completion of their errands ever so slightly more convenient.I wish I could award that BSNYC Seal of Disapproval
I almost immediately had another BSNYC moment as I discovered parked nearby this cargo carrier which, although not an official Big Dummy put me very much in mind of BSNYC's current ride.
That is at least a little bit more green than the trailer in the bike lane.As long as I was at the Fair Grounds and as long as it was about 65 I decided to see if the cooling qualities of that giant pile of snow were still present down in the parking lot. Sure enough, there is still a smallish layer in the corner of the lot and sure enough it felt a tiny bit nippy on the down wind side. It appears that nature will be allowed to do the rest of the job on the pile as the heavy equipment is no longer parked atop the now only about six foot deep remaining snow/dirt mixture.
Here's an update of my video skillz. I think that noise at the beginning might be me breathing but after that the soundtrack is dominated by the burbling brook of snow melt flowing off the pile, down the curb and out into the street to meet its final destination, the city storm sewer drain just downhill.Meanwhile, over at the main University campus they are not doing anything about their snow, apparently believing that NO snow has ever made it through July and it will probably be September before they need this particular parking lot just across from the football stadium.
I estimate that that pile is at its center about as tall as the nearby four story office/classroom/laboratory building which was behind me as I took this shot.I made an excursion into Minneapolis. It sure felt like May today but this look at the river's west bank reveals foliage still stuck in April.
Just about any outdoor activity was a go for today, a fabulous day in May, yet another great day to have a good excuse to be outside.
1 comment:
Your snow video prompted a story from JB who remembers a co-worker and local native of our small town who commented to him one spring that there was often snow until the middle of July in the GE parking lot. I recommend that the University get after that pile of snow, lest it still be there when football season begins.
Stacking snow that high is quite an accomplishment. Did they build a ramp and carry it up to the top?
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