The Persistent Puddle

I was astounded to find this puddle still there. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been. After all, it was there for months last winter, why should it have gone away?

For two months last winter I trudged – seven times a week – through the intersection in front of Simon’s at the Rideau Centre. It sorta looks like a major pedestrian route.

But on the north curb there was a friggin’ ginormous puddle. If it wasn’t sopping wet, it was treacherously icy.

Last week I was heading to a conference in the Market area and followed my usual route. Off the bus at Rideau Centre, and of course the escalator was not running. As if it ever does. (what does this portend for all the escalators at new Confederation stations?)

Out the mall doors at Rideau Street, to be greeted by an old friend. Mr Ginormous. Carefully framed by a big parked truck at one end, so it is not possible to go around the puddle. Nah, gotta go right through it.

I held on to a handle on the back of the truck and tried to swing around the puddle. Alas, I’m not T2 and got one foot wet. As did this lady in the pic:

There is a lot to be said for consistency. Mind, I think it might be over-rated.

But in Ottawa we can always count on “where there is a crosswalk, there is a puddle.”

3 thoughts on “The Persistent Puddle

  1. Have the same problem on my street (major puddle or sheer ice) and an area that needs to be crossed to reach the bus stop. Have taken photos and sent them to my Councilor several times, yet the problem persists.

  2. Mr Willis – presumably some of the problem is the city’s policy that runoff is to be “stored” on the street, slowing runoff, and reducing sewer surcharges. Alas it means curb lines are giant linear puddles, ditto intersections, crosswalks, etc. But then “why would you go for a walk when it rains??”

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