We like words; which is just as well because if we get a great photo to post it's an accident not by design.
However, one commentator on an earlier post remarked on the pavements in the pictures, so we decided to give you a flavour of the selection of Piraeus pavements (footpaths only possibly) that can be experienced around where we live and shop.
Town centre has been undergoing some modernization. Footpaths there (for there they might be deemed as such) are being remade in red concrete and marble-chip tiles with a strip of yellow 'tactile' pavers inlaid to guide the visually impaired.
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| How you might expect it to look |
The yellow strips are quite clever: ridged for 'go in a straight line', and with spots for direction changes and intersections. F assures me that she can feel the difference through the soles of her shoes.
And there the clever ends. The streets are straight (Piraeus is laid out in a very regular grid pattern), and the yellow stripes dodge things, as you might hope they would if you were visually impaired.
The problem is that they dodge things that could easily have been moved to a less obstructive position - like plant pots for instance.
It is also clear that the folks laying the yellow line didn't take a bead on the street before they started and pick a line which could go straight from corner to corner without having to dodge things that couldn't be moved - like trees, power poles and pillars that hold up buildings, and it is not uncommon to be halfway along a street and suddenly finding the yellow strip zigging and zagging to avoid some manhole covers that wouldn't have been an issue if the whole yellow stripe had started one tile left or right. (They aren't centred by the way so moving the stripe one way or the other wouldn't mess up a design feature.)
Even this clever design is not consistent across the commercial district. Half the town is done out in grey pavers with the tactile effect cut into some highly polished tiles of fancy granite.
Away from the commercial district, pavements (many could no longer be deemed footpaths) are a whole different story. We have blogged about them earlier here and today will provide you with a visual selection of the textures, colours, materials, changing levels, alternative uses (and abuses) of those edge-of-street strips of land that some urbanized folk refer to as footpaths.
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| On those supersmooth concrete tiles top left, the average woman's-business-shoe sole has the friction co-efficient of an ice skate. Even more fun when negotiating them on a slope... |
 Yup - she's been playing just to state the bleedin' obvious...  |
| the basement door trap for the unwary |
Remarkably just a few days ago, we encountered 2 people using long canes to negotiate just such an obstacle course. They are the first and only we have seen in 2 and half years here and very brave souls they are. We have never seen guide dogs here.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteOh my, I did enjoy that tour and thank F very much for taking the time to negotiate all obstacles and inclines!!! The green-painted path deserves special mentiona ... and wait.... HITCHES??? You have cowboys now? I'd be using them as safety rails so as not to go ice skating. Cheers, Mr T, for sharing space on your bloggy for this informative and enlightening post. Hugs and whiskeries, YAM-aunty xxx
The hitching rails were possibly installed by building owners that didn't want cars parked on their bit of pavement but they can be useful for gitching bikes and Donkey to outside some shops. As you might have noticed in an earlier post, other anti-parking devices don't always work. Furrings and purrings Mr T
Deleteso glad you did this. this would be scary for me on some of them because of my age and veritgo. it would not be good for impaired vision people so that means your people are all really smart since you don't see them out there. the most scary to me is the basement door. walking that street at night would really be dangerous. ours are all flat and poured concrete except for a few the city Beautifuied with Bricks. that means spent money wastefuly trying to put lipstick on a pig
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