This is the entrance to the pedestrian footbridge that goes over the railroad tracks near the tube station. It's a little intimidating, isn't it? So dark! So jungly!
Here's what it looks like inside that cavern of Virginia creeper and graffiti.
And this is what it looks like on the bridge itself, once you've climbed up those steps. I don't mind this vine, actually, and it looks beautiful in the fall, but I'm kind of surprised it's been allowed to get so unruly. I think some people might be hesitant to enter that dark space. I wonder whose job it is to maintain this bridge -- the tube's? The council's? Neither of them have any money these days.
I crossed this bridge yesterday because I walked to work, for the first time in weeks. I met up with my co-worker, who is starting to get the books organized on their new shelves in the wake of our library remodeling. The construction is mostly done and now it's just a matter of putting everything back together. I was only there for half a day to help her decide how to proceed with the project; I don't officially go back until a week from tomorrow.
I came back home and spent the afternoon reading. My current book is a Newbery winner from 1927 called "Smoky the Cowhorse," and it's about to kill me. It's written in a sort of cowboy lingo with peculiar spellings like "crethure" (which appears to mean creature) and usages like "he knowed it was wrong." And it moves very slowly. It starts with Smoky's birth and I swear it took him ten pages just to stand up. So far it's been almost exclusively horse-focused; I'm hoping once human characters enter the picture it will move a bit faster.
That passageway and its vine is amazing. But then I am not afraid of the dark.
ReplyDeleteI think it such a pity that we, as humans, feel the need to control everything. A bit of "unruly" is good. When I see neighbours taking their pick axes to the tiniest showing of a bit of greenery between the bricks in their courtyard I feel pity. Pity for the plant stretching for light only to be thwarted in its effort; pity for those who can't live with a bit of "untidyness". It's why I love your garden. Sure, it appears David does do a fair bit of taming the wild but largely your patch of paradise is what nature should be. Be. Left in peace. Having said that, and to create some balance in my reasoning, it's good that you, Steve, give your wilderness the odd leg up here and there rather than let them battle it out for themselves and among each other.
U
When it comes to gardening, I completely agree. I like a bit of unruliness! I can see how someone walking alone at night might be hesitant to enter that dark tunnel, though.
DeleteThe overgrown entrance has its charm (although I’d want to take clippers to it, so I wouldn’t have to bend down to walk through). It all does look a bit creepy to me. As for the book, I wouldn’t hold out much hope if humans are added to the mix. Baby humans take an even longer time to stand up.
ReplyDeleteIt IS a bit creepy, I agree! I'll take a picture of it in the fall when the leaves change. It's beautiful then. I'm going to give this book a little longer before I completely commit to a negative review.
DeleteIt does look scary but you know what it is before you enter. I like it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, as long as you know where you're going I suppose it's not as fearsome.
DeleteThere are incubi and succubi hiding up there ready to jump on you.
ReplyDeleteIs that a fancy way of saying "muggers"?
DeleteI love that tunnel 'o vines! But I think I'd think twice about going through it if it was dusk.
ReplyDeleteI admire your commitment to the Newbery series. Go you! I hope Smokey gets more interesting though!
I'm going to finish these books if it kills me! LOL
DeleteI like the vine, but it would be better if it were trimmed so that the crossing is brighter. You have a super day, hugs, Edna B.
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly surprised that it's been let go as long as it has!
DeleteHorror stories could be written about that staircase.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the scene of a crime, for sure!
DeleteI heard part of a program on NPR yesterday about how vines are becoming more and more of an environmental problem in that with climate change, they are bigger and stronger and they choke the lives out of trees and take their resources and they do not do what the trees can do for the environment. This is happening in the wild, in suburbia, all over. At least that vine has restricted itself to a manmade structure.
ReplyDeleteOh, interesting. I wonder if I can get that online? I'd love to hear it, given my recent experiences with suffocating vines!
Deletewhen I saw that picture for some reason it reminded me of a side shoot on the Pecos River. When you first put in your canoes on the Pecos at a low water crossing before it starts to carve the deep canyon on it's way to the Rio Grande the main body of the river turns into a rather large pool but off to the right side a shoot angles off with fast water and turns to the left so you can't see past the mouth and there's nowhere to get out and scout to see where it goes and what it involves so you just go. the rapids all have names, we called this one Blind Faith.
ReplyDeleteI hate virginia creeper. it is so vigorous here and covers everything. I'm astounded that some people plant it on purpose.
Yeah, here it's considered an ornamental vine. In Florida it was just a weed!
DeleteThat is a bit of an intimidating footbridge. I probably wouldn't walk there alone. It's a bit creepy.
ReplyDeleteCreepy with creeper!
DeleteOh my, I don't think I'd venture onto that bridge unless I absolutely had to. Your description of that book makes me wonder how it won an award.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how many contenders there were back in those early years, when children's publishing was in its infancy. Apparently "Smoky" wasn't even meant to be a children's book!
DeleteI imagine siders dropping on me crossing through the over growth, or worse, meeting another human with ill intent. To me , the tunnel is creepy. And what Mary said! The vine is doing no one any favors.
ReplyDeleteTaking ten pages just to stand up and use poor grammar sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. Speed read through that one, save yourself!!
SPIDERS dropping...not siders
DeleteLOL -- I knew what you meant, though I pictured "sliders" dropping on you -- little hamburgers! I am always wary of meeting a bad-spirited person on that bridge.
DeleteMy only hesitation might be encountering the wrong person in there. I'd feel safe with Olga along. Otherwise, it looks like a wonderful place to escape the heat! (which I don't think is currently a problem there)
ReplyDeleteOlga is a terrible watchdog, but she LOOKS intimidating.
DeleteThe Maw definitely needs a manicure! Perhaps someone will see the need and give it a snip or two!
ReplyDeleteI question why you are even reading that book ... is it a requirement or simply something to do! Sounds like watching paint dry would be more interesting! LOL Well, go boldly into the book to see if the humans are more interesting!! Good Luck!!!
It's my own requirement -- I'm trying to read all the books that have won the Newbery Medal, which is the American Library Association's top award for children's literature. This is a project I started a couple of years ago and I'm still hacking away at it. (There are 99 winning books.)
DeleteI think Olga read "Smoky the Cowhorse," that's why she's snoring!
ReplyDeleteI was reading it out loud to her. LOL
DeleteLol at Dave. I am wondering just what elevated the book to 'newberry status'. Let us know if it has any redeeming value.
ReplyDeleteWell, as I said above, it may simply have been a dearth of competition. But I'll let you know if it redeems itself.
Delete"The Viney Tunnel" could have been a pornographic nomination for the Newbery prize. Not to be confused with the wardrobe in C.S.Lewis's Narnia novels.
ReplyDelete"The Lion, the Witch and the Viney Tunnel"?
DeleteA bit of afire trap
ReplyDeleteI didn't even think of that!
DeleteGood luck with your return to work. I go back on Monday, and I am dreading it. That certainly is a most unusual pedestrian bridge.
ReplyDeleteI hope it goes better than you think it will!
DeleteIn school our teachers read to us very day after the noon hour. This reminds me of one of my favorite books about "Smoky" a western horse but I'm sure it's not the book you're reading.
ReplyDeleteOh, I bet it is the same book! How many books about a horse named Smoky could there have been back then?!
DeleteI would be frightened to enter that dark space. I hope Smoky dies soon. The book sounds incredibly annoying.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Ha! Smoky is still a colt and there are about 200 pages to go, so I'm thinking death is not imminent.
DeleteYeah, let's stop horsin' around, right?
ReplyDeleteDagnabbit!
DeleteHave you ever been on the footbridge when a train goes underneath? That would be even more intimidating, I think.
ReplyDeleteThat book sounds like it needed a good edit! But then I say that about quite a few books I run into. Often I never make it through them. You've got cowboy grit (said with a twang) to keep on with your Newbery challenge.
Yeah, the tube (which is above ground at this point) runs beneath it, so there are trains there all the time. The bridge is pretty high, though, so they don't seem dangerously close. I definitely think this book needed an editor.
DeleteIn the minority here: I loved Smokey the Cowhorse! Perhaps one has to be a horse-crazy young girl to appreciate it. Hope the plot picks up for you.
ReplyDeleteI also love Virginia creeper - in the right place. We've evicted it from several spots, but one glorious vine has shot up into the ash tree in our front yard, and looks like a candle flame in the fall.
Here's the NPR story Ms. Moon referenced: https://www.npr.org/local/305/2021/07/09/1014566230/this-man-documented-5-000-trees-being-killed-by-vines-in-takoma-park. Sounds like you did the right thing by un-vining that tree, despite its subsequent death.
Chris from Boise