A couple of random street things

Just took a few pictures of downtown Plano while at lunch today. This is the original “old” downtown area — looks like an old small city. Has been revitalized a lot, and there are some good restaraunts and whatnot now, as well as a light rail station.

Sidewalk/Street divider things in Plano.

This first picture shows the street stalagmites to help keep cars off the sidewalks. Not sure what these thing are actually called, but they seem like a good idea. And really, they don’t look bad at all, and they might actually keep someone alive. At a nearby restaraunt one day, some idiot on a cell phone drove his truck completely up on to the sidewalk (away from these thing), and came about 3 feet from the door of the eatery. Nice.

Overall, however, downtown Plano is a pretty pleasant place to walk. the sidewalks are pretty wide, and there is on-street parking in many places, to create a buffer between walkers and drivers.

Electrical stuff on the side of an old building

This second pic is totally unrelated. I just noticed all the electrical stuff coming out the side of one of the old buildings. This is the kind of thing we normally just sort of ignore — at least I do — but it is the backbone of our society. Without this, and the juice that pulses through these wires, life would not be as we know it. It is amazing, and we stroll by without thinking about it.

It could go away. We need renewable energy now.