Lemoine Point is about 9km from Portsmouth Village straight down the ever so boring Front Road, although the massive housing along the way (especially near the Airport) makes for some nice residential viewing.  Fairly decent (yet limited) trail riding opportunities. 

That second last image is actually an Xbox game I found on the shore (the CD was inside).  Probably one of the more bizarre pieces of Lake Ontario trash that washes up on the shore.  Members of the Inukshuk army  were also present guarding against any potential shoreline transgressions.

Technorati Tags: cataraqui conservation area, cycling, flies, insects, Kingston, lake ontario, lemoine point

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Two years.  Sometime in 2007 I decided I wanted to go to planning school. I can’t even remember what first pushed me toward that profession, but I do remember exactly where I was when I got into Queen’s – February 2008 in some dodgy net bar in Phnom Penh Cambodia.  I wasn’t expecting to get into any grad program and was putting out feelers for the Canadian military (enlisted), so it was quite a surprise.  I’m a pretty awful student, not too down with academia, and would rather eat glass then do research…not exactly prime grad student material.  Given that, it has been an immense privilege to have been given the opportunity to get that chunk paper and check out some built forms with a bunch of great people. 

All the best to the 2010 Supers

Technorati Tags: 2010, grad school, Kingston, queens university, surp

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*tangent* – recently (past three months or so) I’ve noticed that I’m becoming more ambivalent (than usual)  toward planning research.  As identified in a class last night, planning research is not linear often leads to yet another “$50,000 dollar study to explore the causality between walking and the number of movie rental stores in the neighborhood”.  Can research be  an excuse not to do anything?  That is where science, tech and engineering deep-sixes the pseudo-sciences…they seem to go places with their knowledge.  

The point is, while I should be diligently scribbling away on my Master’s report,  I finding wandering around Portsmouth Village far more fulfilling and useful.  Taking crappy photos, thinking about the space and then forcing my thoughts onto the internet feels like a better and more tangible use of time and energy than reading yet another article (complete with Chi2, R2 and other advanced numbers) about why walking, affordable housing and growing food etc.  is good for us.

So, this is Portsmouth Village (est. 1784).  It’s got everything one needs in a complete, mixed-use village.  Pub, pharmacy, secondary suites, sidewalks, places of worship,  sushi, sandwiches, hardware store, giant anchors, sailors, the 1976 Olympic summer games, ample green-space, some brown-space, museums, water, houses, mini-vans, trucks-on-blocks,  traffic, trees, shrubberies, convicts, boats, small dogs, trash,  home businesses, bikes, a general stores, movie rentals, a laundromat,  an insane asylum, modernist buildings, new urbanist stuff, old limestone homes, old wood homes, underground parking,  graffiti, government hacks, empty park benches, ducks and other small woodland creatures and most importantly, a Yonge Street.

Unlike Kingston’s other attempt at New Urbanism , the Portsmouth development actually seems to work…kind of.  At best, it jives well with the older architecture, at worst it adds another layer of diversity to an already patchwork of buildings and styles.

One of the nicest parts of Portsmouth Village is the waterfront trail which bypasses the old (and very creepy) psychiatric hospital and links into Lake Ontario Park.

If one is not down with limestone architecture, there are a couple of lakeshore condos.  Not much too look at, but they offer a killer location.

   …and so does Kingston Pen.

Had a bad day?  Or maybe you just want to ask your girlfriend to marry you.  There is plenty of old concrete wall space @ the abandoned crazy house for all of your public message needs.

This inukshuk is guarding against American invasion.

Lake Ontario Park shoreline.  There is a small graffittied cavern near the boulder on the horizon. 

Delicious and nutritious Lake Ontario water.

A message to God, enshrined on stone.

Back in the day the old psychiatric hospital obviously wasn’t big enough.

Did you take your meds today? 

It’s even creepier at night.

Heavily modified limestone home, next to a post-war house, next too a duplex.  All kinds of homes here.

Presently, Tim Horton’s is the heart and soul of Portsmouth Village, providing nourishment to thousands of downtown commuters, local residents, St Lawrence College students and prison staff each week. Unfortunately, it is also the ugliest addition to the community and has brilliantly succeeded in destroying the historic value within the center of the Village. 

The main drag.  Must like traffic to live here.  

It’s just a good , interesting and nice place to live which embodies pretty simple and basic planning principles.  Building diversity, mix uses, functional green spaces, tight and multi-modal transport friendly, good connections to the greater community.   Nothing fancy here…no over-designed, over-planned, over-researched, over-budged approaches.   Sure it has it’s bad eggs, the Tim’s, the traffic down the centre, some inefficient land uses and strange parcel designs, some gentrification,  but it is fairly obvious that the community works.  I’m sure that most people would agree.  Keep it  simple.  Planning doesn’t need to be rocket science.  90% is just observation. Good spaces have been around for centuries…Portsmouth is testament to that.

Technorati Tags: Kingston, kingston penitentiary, lake ontario park, photography, photos, portsmouth village, urban planning

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Despite  the  accepted  health  benefits  of  walking,  in  some Western  cities  it  has  become  an almost  counter-cultural  activity,  and  ‘a  sign  of powerlessness  or  low  status’  (Solnit  2000,  253).  

Hah hah!  I always knew there must be actual, academic evidence for this!  No longer must I merely speculate or muse regarding how I feel when I walk about Kingston’s Gardiner’s road or the highway 401 power centres . 

I now have a citation that conforms somewhat the laws of academia.  

Wanderlust:  A history of walking .  As suspected, it is been signed out of the library.

Technorati Tags: grad school, Kingston, surp, urban planning, walking, walking school bus

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They guys at Yellow Bikes are replacing the entire gear system on my bike and revamping the brake system…cannibalized parts of course…but I don’t need the latest disc brakes for running around Kingston.

Yellow Bike Guy:  “You know, this isn’t just a small repair…it could take awhile and cost a bit”

Bryan:  “Oh…how long?  How much?”

Yellow Bike Guy:  “Probably Friday and should be about $50 dollars total”.

When I lived in Victoria I took the bike I was riding at the time into a shop for a basic tune up…which essentially accounted for nothing more than replacement of brake cables…which probably didn’t need to be replaced…I think they might have thrown in some chain oil…  All for $100…and it took me about 5 days to get my bike back.

Yellow Bikes is such a great Kingston resource.

Technorati Tags: bianchi, bikes, cycling, Kingston, repair, yellow bike action

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My trip is from the doorstep of my suite, to transit route #2, on to the Kingston Bus Depot with a final deposit at Toronto Pearson International Airport.  Only the walking and transit portion I actually field tested today, with the 3.5 hour trip to the airport assessed through memories of past expeditions to that destination.

So what does this have to do with Starbucks? There is one a couple of stops beyond the Bus Depot.  Heading all the way out to the boondocks of transit route #2 just to ‘see what it is like’ is not the most thrilling experience.  Have you ever been on route 2 ?  If you have, you’ll know what I mean.  Usually when I need to ride #2 up north I end up being on the receiving end of a conversation with an “interesting” person. 

One could argue that having coffee alone at Starbucks isn’t that thrilling either.  But they offer 2 hours of free wi-fi now.  To someone like me, without home internet, this is worth riding the #2.

…maybe not worth the Division/401 power centre though located near the end of the #2 route.  Unfortunately, the Starbucks located right in the middle of this jungle.   

Everything about the the Division Street/ Highway 401 power centre is designed to reduce a pedestrian to the status of a whack-a-mole…endlessly dodging the never-ending traffic…all alone without any back-up.  “Hostile” doesn’t even come close, although I think Gardiners Road does.  After being spat out of the bus into a mountain of slush/mud paste piled up on the transit stop one then has the option of visiting a half-dead strip mall, numerous drive-thru’s, or a couple of giant box stores all separated by bizarrely disconnected parking lot system full of stressed out 401 drivers.  To assist you in all of this is a painfully incomplete sidewalk system.  

To be fair, this power center is targeting the 401 highway traffic and last I checked there were not too many people taking a Sunday walk down the 401.  However, it seems like the planners had a pow-wow and said “Ok team, what we are trying to do here is create a place exclusive of Kingston.  We don’t want anyone from Kingston coming here and if they do, they are never going to want to come back”.

The fact that there is actually a transit route running through this mess is rather amusing.  This space is so bad for people without motorized wheels, so terribly bad that the transit route should be removed in the interests of public health.  You can’t have people wandering around a space like this unless they are carrying their own air-bags. 

That brings me to the Starbucks.  It’s not your average Starbucks, in the sense that it is free-standing and has a giant 50ft-high sign broadcasting itself onto the 401.  It is also the only Starbucks I’ve visited that I had a hard time finding and getting to, the main entrance.  Normally a business is interested in attracting customers into their establishment.  Not here, where the axiom is “keep everyone outside in their cars”.  This Starbucks likes to emphasis it’s drive-thru*…so much in fact that site planning wizards arranged the drive-thru lane to wrap around the front of the building, pushing the walk-in entrance to the back of the building.  “Relaxxxxxx…people don’t walk” was the driving ideology here.   It’s not even connected the sidewalk running down Division Street, leaving one to walk down a heavy traffic street just to get in.  When I entered the wide-eyed barista asked me if I had actually walked here. I said yes, and I mentioned that I had heard that you get a free coffee if you arrive alive.   Well, she didn’t really ask that…but it seemed like it would have been an appropriate question providing the nonsense I had to navigate through for a basic cup of coffee.  If there are Starbucks customer loyalty awards, I should get the gold.

It’s quite a nice store inside.

The summer view on Google Street View provides proof that there is actually a sidewalk connecting the Starbucks to the greater community.  Still, the place remains very freaky to walk through.   Winter, however, is a completely different story. 

*The concept of a drive-thru the ultimate in North American laziness and public isolation brought on by an addiction to their car seats.  In many cases, there are usually more people at the drive-thru than in the actual restaurant.

Technorati Tags: bus, coffee, highway 401, Kingston, pedestrian, space, starbucks, travel, urban planning

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I remember reading somewhere quite awhile ago a lament regarding the very unflattering description given to Prince George by LP writers in a previous edition so I was curious to see the description in this latest edition.  The editors, probably acting upon loads of PG hate mail, have apparently revamped the description, opting instead to focus on the rich First Nation history of the area in lieu of the detailed description the areas pulp mills .

My hometown, Mackenzie, also makes a paragraph in the book.  Not surprisingly though, the majority of that paragraph is dedicated to the Mackenzie Tree Crusher .

The Tree Crusher…is…well…unique…in its own way.  It is definitely a conversation piece and it probably does drag the tourists in with it’s name alone.  Obviously, as a landmark (or a item in general) its not really keeping with the times…and it’s probably not really what one would like in the Lonely Planet which (love it or hate it) is the definitive independent international travel companion.  No mention of the amazing easily accessible alpine of Morfee Mountain or the award winning snow of Powder King.  Nope…the international image of Mackenzie is a giant machine that pushes over mature timber and grinds it into the forest floor. 

Technorati Tags: british columbia, Kingston, lonely planet, mackenzie, powder king, prince george, travel, tree crusher

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Canadians…who like to pride themselves on their rustic hardiness and terrified of winter and snow.  I’ve the one or two public meetings I’ve attended regarding transportation (one was in terms of transit, the other, cycling) tortured cries of “what about the snow?” in an attempt to nullify any progressive action that may be taken to improve transportation conditions within the city.

I’m not afraid of the snow.  I love it and this winter represents my first opportunity to rip up the streets on a bike during a snowy winter.  I didn’t have a bike last year, and snow didn’t exist in Victoria or Nanjing (only in fairy tales).  Riding the snow can’t be that bad.

Another big reason is that one can become slightly addicted to the mobility offered by two wheels, probably much in the same fashion as one becomes addicted to four wheels.  I live on the extreme edge of the twenty minute walking radius from campus…a strange netherworld where walking the distance more than once in a day is frustrating and where taking the bus isn’t much faster.

At first I was a little apprehensive about snow riding…the usual…black ice, traction, cold and the ever-present crazy drivers are items that come to mind.  Having ridden most of December and going strong into January, I’ve realized that the real enemy for a winter rider in Kingston is the brown paste-like substance that is created by mixing snow, salt, sand and bizarre Great Lake weather systems together.  That stuff is filthy…absolutely filthy. It’s all over my bike, my bag and my jacket.

Fighting the cold appears the be the number one concern floating around winter riding forums .  I understand people’s concerns regarding cold…a lot of people don’t like it, and fair enough.  Yet while wearing warmer clothing appears to be an obvious no-brainer, it seems to scare the shit out of people.

Fish-tailing is inevitable, but if one is skillful and rides in a controlled manner, it is quite easy to deal with.  One would be quite amazed at the ability of a good mountain tire to slice through snow and grip ice. 

Brown, salty street paste aside, my chief concern remains that of normal riding…the auto traffic. Vehicles are vicious enough on the major arterials when the bike lanes are open but a rider actually in the main lane, in the winter (gasp)…seems to frighten (and piss) the crap out of a lot of motorists.

Bike are pretty hardy, but a clearing of cycle lanes would be nice and might help those a little uncertain about winter riding feel a little more confident.  And for Christ-sakes…shovel out the bike racks…marking them with orange snow poles doesn’t help very much.

Snow riding is fun, slightly challenging, but not nearly has difficult or cold as one would think…although it is a little (ok…quite) dirty in Kingston.

Technorati Tags: bikes, cold, Kingston, queens university, transportation, weather, winter, winter cycling

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• Connected with descendents of my Great Uncle’s Typhoon squadron

  Was provided information regarding a memorial cairn created for my Great-Uncle in France.

• Acquired a long-term internet stalker.
• Acquired several good friends through the website.
• Routinely receive hits from individuals interested in the Nanjing sex industry…probably because of this post .
• Became a whiz with WordPress and other blog related software.
• 410 posts – over 600 pages @ 12pt. font of scribbling (as of 2008 given that WordPress no longer exports in .txt format so I can’t read as a word document) – 921 comments – about 24,000 hits – 3343 individual photos.

I spent this weekend cleaning up my gallery.  I had noticed some time ago that numerous albums were missing from the gallery, including most of my Southeast Asia, Nanjing, Slovenia, Croatia, some from Tibet and a couple of other random images.  I’ve addressed that issue and added photos from this summers escapades in Shanghai and Nanjing.  I might even add some more Canadian content (although the ole’ Pentax is still down and out…a resolution is to fix that bad-boy).   Most of those have already been posted on the main page at some point over the past six months, but they are now archived back in the gallery.  The India stuff will be in there eventually, although the trend is that I’m usually a year tagging and documenting my photos.

I’m writing this from a nice perch on the 4th floor of Stauffer Library over looking Queen’s.  I’ve vowed to spend less time in my office at SURP this year in a bid for more productivity (as much as I love the socializing, I would like to get this Master’s report done somewhat on time).  Stauffer is kind of a undergrad hang out, but the 4th floor has nice views and could be a choice location (but I’ll steer clear during the craziness of exams).

Crappy mobile phone image (Queen’s from Stauffer Library)  

I’m clear headed and ready to dive into my final semester (hopefully) as a student. I’ve got a bike that tears up the snow, a new backpack that eats mud for breakfast and a thermos full of coffee.  Just need some new sunglasses.

Technorati Tags: 2010, blog, grad school, Kingston, life, new years, pentax, photography, surp

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First, it was Nanjing, city of 6 million….right past my apartment accompanied by 500,000 screaming well-wishers.

Now it’s tiny Kingston…this time it is on a boat, but it still manages to swipe right past my apartment…I swear, it’s out to get me.

The 2010 Torch…floating it’s way into Portsmouth Harbour, site of the 1976 Summer Olympic sailing events.

I must say…one Torch relay is not like another.  While the international portion of the 2008 games could politely be called a disaster, the domestic legs brought out the best in authoritarian organizational guile.  500,000 people perfectly lined the designated streets of Nanjing as early as 6am in early 2008, all in the appropriate colours and pre-approved paraphernalia (apparently sponsored Coke) and bused in from surrounding campuses for an 11am Torch arrival.  Bigger than Mao and Deng combined is the phrase I would use. 

Not really keeping up with Torch news that year, I had completely forgot that that day was Torch day, and the big cross-town four lane street near my apartment was part of the relay.  Completely oblivious, I stumbled out of my apartment in search of breakfast and a cab to work and fell directly into a storm of Torch craziness.

I didn’t find breakfast or a cab, was late for work and scuffed my shoes. 

That silly Torch, but it apparently wasn’t finished with me yet.

Contrast that to Portsmouth Harbour, 6:43am 15 December 2010.  A few hard-core Torch fans, a handful of folks who missed the downtown Torch arrival yesterday afternoon and people like myself who just happen to be in the way crowded (kind of a relative term) on the the piers of the harbour as the Torch sailed out into Lake Ontario, fired itself up and sailed back into the harbour.

There is a funny thing about a Torch relay…

…if one finds themselves right smack in the middle of all PR…

…in the centre of a disorganized democratic mess…

…and actually ends up jogging a bit with the crowd and the Torch as it continues its journey…  

…without any security…

…and a bare minimum of harmony crowd control specialists/VANOC micro-managers…

…it can make one pretty happy and surprisingly proud.

Torch groupie :-p

Technorati Tags: canada, Kingston, olympic games, olympic torch relay, olympics, portsmouth harbour, sports

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