Extreme Bicycle Parking

The bike parking at the City Library was pretty much full. There were a few bikes against the railings, and some bikes were "double parked" closer to the doors.

This outdoor cafe was empty, but they are preparing for the May 1st, which is a big holiday for workers and students. For workers, it might mean a parade. For students, it means getting drunk and possibly getting thrown into the sea. Although not here, I think, as there is ice on the sea (just behind the bikers). But the river is ice free, so prepare to get wet!

 

The yellow signs are saying "No bicycles- fire escape route" to stop people locking their bikes into the railings.


But what on earth is this? Ruins? Bomb shelter?

It's where the fish ladders start. To the right (not visible in the picture) is the dam bikeway. In the background is the dam that splits the river in half, and in the upper right corner are the concrete blocks of the bikeway dam.
The first photo in the fishladder post is taken very near the upper right corner of the photo.

To me it looks like some parts are missing from the ladders, look at the gaps! And where's the water? The water level is supposed to be where the whitish stains are. I took the photo yesterday, and today I read that the fish ladders are open to the customers. So they were probably leaning the ladders before the grand opening. An underwater web camera shows the fishes going past. Looking at the stats there's not much traffic yet, maybe later in May there might be some fishes to see?

Oh, and there's two bikes in the last picture, too. One, possibly stolen bike thrown into the river. And one parked bike. Can you spot it?

Excerpts from Local Newspaper

Source: www.kaleva.fi

The police had to chase a rooster in the market square. Apparently it's not enough that easter bunnies and chickens (made from toilet paper rolls etc by pre-school kids) are used for decorating the homes. Some one let a rooster loose on the market square.

The weather was warm, reaching +18C, the highest this spring. Combined with a lack of wind, the weather was very good for sitting outside and drinking beer. Some restaurants and pubs had queues for the tables outside.

Someone burned down their firewood shelter, but managed to save his house. He was 'scorching the earth', aka burning the last years grass to fertilize the soil and to accelerate the growth of new grass. Now is the best time to do that, as the old grass has dried and the new grass has not started to grow, so the new grass will not suffer from the fire. Dry grass burns fast, so be careful.

The city is lowering the speed limit on one road near the university from 60km/h to 50km/h. The reasons cited are improving safety and the several intersections on the short section of the road.  Readers comments so far vary from "it's good" to "it will create horrible traffic jams."

On a more sad note, at least five people have drowned in the last week. One of them was an adult, who was ice fishing on weak ice. One was a two year old, who fell into a rain well, because the manhole cover was not in place. The manhole cover is made of aluminum and is lightweight, so it was supposed to be bolted down. The police is investigating the case.

Two kids fell into a stream or river while playing outside. A third, 10 year old fell off a bridge and fell into the river below. Water is attractive to kids, and it's fun to build dams or poke at the chunks of ice or throw things into the stream. But this time of the year the water is near freezing, with the water level higher and the flow faster due to the melting snow. Four kids drowned in one week!

Easter Beauty Contest

Easter bonfire is a local easter tradition. The story goes like this: with Jesus dying on the cross on the Good Friday, the evil forces are temporarily able to roam freely. Trying to scare the witches away, people start huge bonfires. The bigger flames and more sparks out of the fire, the better it works as a witch repellant. If there is no bonfire, the witches might come to your house and sabotage it or make your cows sick or cast evil spells on your fields or something like that.

On Good Friday, the Lions Club built a bonfire in a small island in the river. They collected money for some good cause, by selling sausages, balloons etc. The island is a park, so there was no parking places for cars. People parked somewhere else and walked to the bonfire, or arrived by bicycle.


There were a couple of hundred people there, and a lot of bicycles. There were a lot of kids around, so I saw several cargo bikes, trailers and baby seats on bikes. And why were there so many kids? The Easter Witches' Beauty contest, of course:

There were about 20 kids, with brooms, stuffed cats, coffee pans and other accessories. They did magic tricks or recited a poem, and were interviewed by the host. Once the judges had found the winner, it was time to scare the withces away and start the bonfire:

The Bonfire and the man with matches.

Cyclists need fishladders!

While selecting photos for the catkin post I had a photo I was going to put there, but then I got the idea that it would be worth a blog post on own. With another photo to really drive (hmm, not on a cycling blog) hammer in the point.  

I'm going to show the complementary photo first:

The "overflow dam" of the hydro power plant.

The bar you see in the front of the picture is an axle, part of machinery to control the sluice gates. In the dam you see also has holes where the water gets out when it reaches high enough level, to prevent flooding. As you can see, all of the water has been going through the power plant, no need to waste water by letting it go through the sluice gates.

Here's the photo that sparked my imagination:

Fish ladder to get past the hydro dam.

What do these photos to have with cycling?

Compare the pictures. First is the hydro dam. Effective at getting as much water as possible through the turbines. Not very pretty and definately unappealing to fish. Height difference is too big for them to jump, and they can't get through the turbines.

The fish ladder looks nice, even in April. Fishes like it, obviously. The route is certainly navigable for them. And the web camera shows that salmons etc. use it too. If it wasn't for the ladders, there'd be no salmons upstream!

The dam is a barrier, like a railway tracks or highway without underpasses. Or any street which does not have a safe way for cyclists and pedestrians to cross it or ride/walk along it. The barrier stops people from moving. It kills active, human powered transportation.


One could also compare the fish ladder to bikeways. One might imagine that a few, strong and fearless fish might survive the dam. But the fishladder? Can you see the small fishes cycling to school and the old granma fishes cycling to bingo, with no danger from the turbine blades?

Catkins for the easter

The catkins are a traditional easter decoration. They're the first signs of plant life after the winter (plants in pots indoors excluded). Chickens, chokolate eggs and a plate of grass are also popular. The white thing in the ground is ice. :-)

This tree has it's own "catkins". I'm sure someone with an allergy can tell when they're in bloom. No green leaves yet.

The bikeways have been clear for a few weeks and they've been sweeping them too. The piles of snow made by snow plows remain.

Not all snow has melted in the forests.

The river has some ice left on the edges. The fishermen are using row boats now.

Want to go swimming? Here's a flotation device provided by nature. In Southern Florida, water temperature in the sea today is +27C (about 80F?) In Very Northern Florida, very close to zero C.

The sea looks frozen solid, and the Meteorological Institute says the ice is 50-70 cm thick out there. Of course, the spring ice is weaker and this close to the river it's not even so thick any more.  I don't think anyone is walking or skiing or even ice fishing out there anymore.

Election Day

Today we had parliamentary elections. I went to give my vote at local primary school. There were some small cyclists around, too. They've learned well, parking right at the front door. They're not allowed to vote, though! :-)

Great spring weather!

This bikeway has been sweeped. No gritting sand. A few degrees C above zero, half-cloudy, no strong winds. Very good!

Noticed first signs of plant life, a few catkins. I tried to take photos of them, and on camera they looked OK. Now at the computer screen I can see they're out of focus. Blah. Focus is on the distant background instead of the catkins. Well, theyre just starting to grow, so I'll have other chances.

The catkins are a typical Easter decoration thing here in Very Northern Florida. You'll find a vase of them in many homes, along with a plate of grass and toy chickens and eggs.