Pigeons

This pair of pigeons at a house on Flora were almost posing for a painting, mirroring each other's position on the third-floor windowsill. Though I think the symmetry was a coincidence.

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Bixiiiii

This photo is from back in April, on the bidirectional pathway along Mackenzie Avenue toward the Alexandra Bridge. I took it on my foray up to Nepean Point. This was very shortly after the launch of the Capital Bixi program: I saw five people on Bixis coming along, and managed to catch them all in the same shot on my first (and only) try:

Parliament Hill is in the background, but I had neglected to consider its appearance in the photo.

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Follow the yellow line

Sorry for the absence. I was busy running the bicycle parking at Bluesfest 2011, which is a 100-hour-a-week volunteer gig. You'll be happy to hear that I've got over two weeks of posts pre-scheduled, so there won't be another gap for at least as long!

Most of the time, when a pathway in the national capital region splits, the yellow line will follow the direction where the pathway continues in whatever direction. For example, if you're trying to navigate the pathways under the Portage Bridge to get westward from behind the Parliament buildings, following the yellow line will help you get back to the pathway along the Ottawa River.

Many cyclists don't realize this, but they do get it at an unconscious level. Take here for example:

This is just under the Laurier bridge heading North toward the convention centre and Byward Market, on the pathway that runs along Colonel By Drive. This is a notoriously difficult place to navigate because it's not clear at all how to get from here to the other side of Rideau/Sussex.

Unfortunately, when I stopped to watch for a bit, I saw most cyclists followed the yellow line up to the abutment of the Laurier Bridge, which led them to a dead end and a hard curb along Colonel By Drive. They, as I had done just before them, ended up going down the steep cobbled footings of the bridge to get back to the pathway along the Rideau Canal and continue toward Union Station.

Unfortunately, even if this line gets fixed (which it might, there was still some construction going on when I took this photo in May 2011), there's not much place for people to go once they pass the bridge, it's still every cyclist to him- or herself to navigate Colonel By, Sussex, and the rest.

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Happy Canada Day from Ottawa! #ottbike

Happy Canada Day! Here's a photo of my bike decked out in red and white Christmas lights at Capital Vélo Fest.

Mine was one of the many HPVOoO bikes on the June 4, 2011 night ride. There are more photos linked from the HPVOoO 2011 events Gallery and on the Capital Vélo Fest website

I'll be busy at the Bluesfest Bicycle Parking for Citizens for Safe Cycling the next couple weeks, so I might miss a few posts. See previous posts with the Bluesfest label.

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]