Help protect the kids on busy roads

There was a knock at the front door a few minutes ago. That’s not something that happens very often during working hours. At the door was a teenager in school uniform with what looked like a notepad in hand. He was collecting signatures for a petition to have more zebra and pelican crossings built in Tower and Blarney.

The petition was set in motion by the death of Clodagh Murphy in a road accident on September 20th last. She was only 14.

Hopefully we’ll see some positive results from the petition but it’s going to involve education too. There’s a pelican crossing on the main road in Blarney. It’s a very busy road with several junctions leading onto the road in less than a few hundred meters distance. There’s also a bus stop on one side of the road, and a school on the other.

  • I saw a teenager standing ready to run across the road. He was waiting for a break in traffic. He was right next to the pedestrian lights.
  • Every morning over a dozen students pile out of the bus and go to the back of the bus. They too ignore the nearby pedestrian lights and by weight of numbers force the traffic to stop and walk across the road. I’ll have to get a picture of that some morning.

The mind boggles.

Squiggly Trees

What does one do on a freezing cold night? Go out with a tripod and take photos of trees!
I took this photo a week ago during a cold snap in the weather. I assembled my tripod on the corner of the street near my home and set it up for a 20 second exposure. Half way through the shot a man, his son and their dog passed. I *knew* something was going to happen and I was right. The dog’s lead got caught in the legs of the tripod but I had a good grip of it so the camera didn’t go flying out onto the road!
There was some movement and those squiggles across the picture are the result. I like it! 🙂