Thursday, April 26, 2012

Bridge over troubled water

Please don't fall
London, ON
April 2009
About this photo: It's Thematic's faith week. Click here to share yours.




















My wife hates this bridge, cringes every time we drive over it, holds the door handles tightly in fear of a 137-year-old structure that she worries can't keep a modern car filled with stuff - and us - from ending up in the murky river below.

I can't say I blame her, as on the surface it doesn't look like much. But still I take this route whenever I can. Because the experience of driving over the concrete deck "structure" just a couple of blocks north is hardly an experience at all. As long as this lovingly maintained span is with us, we'll be connected to history in some tenuous manner. The day the Blackfriars Bridge is replaced - a day I hope is a long time coming - is the day we lose that connection.

If the price for crossing it is a few butterflies in my stomach, that's a small price worth paying as long as we've got this remarkable piece of engineering history in our midst.

Your turn: A piece of history that touches you is...?

4 comments:

Mike Wood said...

I posted a bridge as well on my Google Plus page. Shot just last weekend. Down in Port Stanley. I love old bridges. Spanning the past and the future. :)

http://goo.gl/jyl3b

tiff said...

Cool about it being the longest bridge of its type in North America! I'm of the opinion that the back roads are ALWAYS to best way to get someplace, esp if there's history involved.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Hey hey hey!

You're supposed to take pictures of those butterflies, not eat 'em!

;-)

carmilevy said...

Apologies to Ciera, as I seem to have accidentally deleted one of her comments from the admin interface (combination of my fat fingers, a small smartphone screen and not enough sleep.)

You can find her here, and here's what she said:

It's not a building, but a bridge. One of our last wooden covered bridges. I have the hardest time walking across it, but I've gotten better/braver over the years lol It's just beautiful, from a time lost to us now. Simplicity.