Strike A Pose.

Yesterday morning I got off the bus in front of the Sturdy Stone Centre on 3rd Avenue.  I spotted a magpie on one of the nearby trees, so out came the camera in the hope of catching a shot.



Imagine my surprise when instead of flying away before I could take a photo, as birds often do, he actually flew closer to me, landing in one of the planters.  He started to root around for tidbits.



My close presence seemed to make no difference to him.  In fact it was almost as if he decided to let me have a good look.





Even the flash on my camera going off a couple of times didn't bother him in the least.





Soon it was time for both of us to move on.

The breed found in Saskatchewan is the Black-billed Magpie.  They're quite common in many areas of Saskatoon.  As often seems to be the case with birds the ones downtown, like this one, are quite tame.  The ones I see in more suburban areas of Saskatoon seem to be less so. 

Small Guardian?

A small dog tied up in front of Always Towing on 43rd Street.  Although he barked at me I doubt he's supposed to be a guard dog.



This was the second time I've seen him tied up there and I'm by there regularly when I visit the Long and McQuade across the street., so I assume he's a pet of one of the tow truck drivers.

Clink.

Walking down 2nd Avenue on Wednesday I noticed this glass sitting on top of the parking ticket dispenser at the corner of 2nd and 25th Street.  Given that the Patricia Hotel and its bar are just across the street I assumed a patron walked out of the bar holding this and put it there when he was finished.  Frankly I find that a bit disturbing, because he might have then gotten into his vehicle and drove off, drunk.



However a quick check indicates that Albino Rhino is a brand of pale ale served at Earl's Restaurants, and there's an Earl's a couple of blocks away on 2nd Avenue.  Doesn't change my worry about drunk driving of course.

I left the glass where it was, but it didn't remain there long.  Literally a couple of minutes after I took these shots a truck pulled up to the dispenser.  I think it might have been someone from the company who runs the parking lot.  In any case when the truck pulled away the glass was gone.  Somehow I doubt the driver was going to take the glass back where it belongs, but who knows?

Unconnected.

Recently I noticed this sticker by the after hours book return slot at the Francis Morrision Library, aka the main branch, on 23rd Street.



I really don't see the connection between tattoos and libraries, other than there being tattoo books in the library.

And as a bonus here's a shot of the lovely colours of the leaves across the street on the City Hall grounds.

An Emperiled Crossing.

The oldest motor vehicle bridge in Saskatoon is known by several names, including the Victoria Bridge, the 19th Street Bridge, and its official name, the Traffic Bridge.  But at the moment it might best be called the Trafficless Bridge.





The bridge was closed to traffic on the afternoon of August 24th after inspectors decided further use of the bridge is unsafe.





This includes foot traffic, as warned by this solar powered digital sign.





The underside of the bridge shows its age, but I don't have the training to know exactly how bad it really looks.  However it has been suggested this week that the bridge could collapse if traffic were to continue using it in its current state, which must be a bit unnerving to those who have been regularly using the bridge of late.



These gentlemen were busy further evaluating the bridge when I took these pictures the morning of August 25th.

The bridge was previously closed from November of 2005 to September of 2006 to conduct repairs after problems became obvious.  Hopes that the repairs taken at that time would increase the longevity of the bridge appear to have been overly optimistic.

The closure has caused a further increase in the traffic flow problems already occuring due to the amount of road construction currently ongoing in Saskatoon, including the Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge being limited to single lane traffic.  But things could be worse.  Due to its narrow size the Victoria Bridge is not used by Saskatoon Transit.  Still, the fate of the bridge is a major question, as its replacement would cost tens of millions of dollars, and until it is repaired or replaced traffic flow through the downtown area will be hampered..

Social Commentary, Perhaps.

This was one of two or three painted on the parking lot in front of the Colonial Cold Beer and Wine Store on 8th Street.  I'm guessing this grafitti was done late at night given that there's no sign of it being smudged by being run over.  But even then it must take a bit of courage to do that on one of the busiest streets in town, and in front of a business that might have been open at the time.

All Day, And All Of The Night.

This is a shot of the Preston Crossing Sobeys store.  The sign indicates that like the other Saskatoon stores of the chain this location is now open 24 hours a day.  I'm skeptical of any of them getting much business at 3 in the morning, but the Preston Crossing location seems especially unlikely to given its isolation.  No one is likely to drive past the store and stop in on impulse.  Still, Sobeys decision to go 24 hours is an example of the slowly expanding number of 24 hour businesses in Saskatoon, such as a couple of outlets of Shoppers Drug Mart and the drive through windows at McDonalds.