The Friday Quiz - Who are the Sleepers?

It's over, of course, the Cold War. But the legacy remains.

This map is a Soviet rendition of Bristol. Before the Glorious Cumberland Basin intersection was built. Note the existing railway route through the docks and the city. Note that, with a little thought and investment, this infrastructure could have provided an efficient and sustainable rapid transit system, linking southern and central Bristol with Temple Meads. The Soviets knew this, and documented it.

Which is why, in 1969, Bristol City Council decided they had to foil the CCCP, and came up with their own Glorious Five Year Plan for the docks. Just look at what we're missing...

This vision of Utopia never happened.

Bristol Traffic asks - was the Council infiltrated by a fifth column? We know that Cycling City took another 40 years to complete. There must have been sleepers...

Every footpath closure creates need for parking space

Following on from yesterday's observations regarding road closures we can report that there are real down-sides to closing footpaths:

Above we see the usual inhabitants of the pavement down in the Cumberland Basin. The photo was taken before Christmas. Below, however, is the current situation. The cars have unfortunately been displaced, with nowhere obvious to go.

Except of course, for the traffic island (is that an oxymoron, or just another name for Great Britain?), where there is space for WU55CKJ, and a van. Of course, had they parked more tidily there would be even more parking spaces on the island.

Mixed Messages

So, here we have it. Unambiguous, clear and obvious.

Cyclists should dismount and throw their machines over children and adults alike.

Or cyclists should help remove and dismantle the sunken railway lines.

Or cyclists should consider other path users whilst imitating E.T. and avoiding sunken railway lines.

Or pedestrians should beware of low-flying cyclists un-sinking railway lines...

It must be Friday.

Effective Advertising

Anyone who works in advertising must dream of an advert so compelling that passers by stop and look at it, to give the advert undivided attention for long enough to read the text and take in the message. Here, Ed P. posts in a dockside advert by Linden Homes that did just that. Stopped him walking up the pavement to look at the ad.

Admittedly, the main reason he stopped going along Gasferry Road was that he was trying to push a small child along in a pushchair, and the Linden Homes house marketing signage prevented him from proceeding safely on the pavement. Stopping was the only option, followed only by pushing the pushchair out through parked cars and continuing along the road, the road that provides the sole pedestrian route through this part of the Bristol City Docks. But from an advertising perspective it worked! He read the sign. He took a photo. He emailed it to us and now we've stuck it online. That is success!