The 'old' bridge across the Bann, with the Clothworkers Building just behind. The bridge was re-built as you see it here in 1843, replacing an older wooden one which dated from 1713, although there has been a bridge there on and off since the middle of the 13th Century. In the 1970s a new bridge was built to the South which provides a more direct route for traffic going to and from Derry/Londonderry and Coleraine.
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| Bridge across the Bann at Coleraine, 2020. Nikon F2 and 85mm Nikkor lens. Ilford HP5+/ID-11; lith print on Foma 133 paper. |
I have driven (and been driven) over this bridge many thousands of times, as the secondary school I went to (and now Missy attends) lies on the West side of the Bann whereas we live on the East. I will not miss that school run come summer of 2021, when Missy will finish school and continue her education elsewhere. The one-way traffic system in Coleraine means a pretty lengthy (well, relatively speaking, that is) detour to get across the river for us and in the mornings it can be a bit slow due to the school run traffic. Are there no school buses, I hear you ask? Yes, there are, but it's a strange old system they have here. For instance, those living within 3 miles of a school are not eligible for a free bus. That was the same when I was going to school and my parents tried hard to convince the Education Board that we did, in fact, live more than 3 miles away. We did, on the way to school (one-way system, remember?) but the way home is shorter and so the Board said No. Not that I fancied walking down to the end of our road and then standing waiting for a bus in the middle of a downpour on a dark and cold December morning - either for me all those years ago or Missy now. So I do what a lot of other parents do - suck it up and drive our little darlin' to school. It makes little sense, I know, but we have no viable option. Bicycle? Perhaps, but you'd be mad to send your child to school on a bicycle given the state of our roads, weather, traffic and drivers...simply too dangerous. Almost no-one cycles to school - and that's a pretty sad state of affairs.
I complain, but Coleraine is really quite a small town (population about 50,000, perhaps double that in the immediate locality) and in reality there is little to moan about compared to life in a big city. But it's what you're used to, isn't it? I mean, you have to complain about something, right?
It's funny to me how standards differ from place to place. Where and when I grew up, whether you got a free school bus ride depended on whether you had to cross "major" streets to get to school. I rode the bus 2 years because walking the 1.9 miles would have involved crossing one six-lane artery.
ReplyDeleteWell that seems like a reasonable excuse to get the bus, Jim!
DeleteWhen I went to school there was a bus in the morning for everyone, a bus home for lunch (what we called 'dinner'), no bus back to school for afternoon classes, and no bus home after school. That depended on where you lived and your grade. Lower grades got buses for every time of the day. My friends and I were often late getting back to school by 1:30 in the winters. Not because we had to walk uphill both ways through six feet of snow, but because we couldn't resist snowball fights and throwing each other off the snow mountains created by the snow ploughs.
ReplyDeleteThat's a weird bus system, Marcus. I can imagine quite a few pupils 'being late' in the afternoon lol. Didn't your school have a canteen? We got a hot cooked meal every day at school - two courses! Looking back the food wasn't bad at all (meat, spuds & veg in various configurations), although obviously we had our favourites (and our not-so-favourites). The vegetables were always cooked to destruction, of course.
DeleteNowadays most schools seem to have given up with regard to nutrition, in spite of various high profile campaigns by celebrity chefs. Our daughter hasn't gone near the school canteen for years - she prefers to take her own lunch. She eats pretty healthily.
There was a small cafeteria in the elementary school, mostly used by students who stayed for intramural sports. My town (10,000 people) was small enough that most people could go home for dinners. The food wasn't healthy, but Mrs. Granter could make hamburgers and chips like no one else.
DeleteNewfoundland is an Irish/English cultural hybrid, so I know about overcooked vegetables very well. Still, yum!
That’s a cracking shot!
ReplyDeleteThank you CDSnapper, appreciated! It's hard to get an interested take on a subject you see practically every day, but I was pleased with this one.
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