It’s all in the details

Regent Park Maintenance CoverWalking every day is one of the greatest and easiest things you can do to keep in shape. You need other kinds of exercising, like stretching and lifting weights, but these can also be combined with walking.

We are fortunate in Regent Park to have excellent places to walk in all four directions. From riverside trails, to urban hikes, through parks, around tall buildings, and alongside the provincial legislature, we’ve walked four or five kilometres a day on a regular basis.

I like to take photos while we walk (to the point that my husband quipped when our Fitbits didn’t agree recently on the number of steps, that it was because I stopped so often to take  a photo) – but sometimes I wonder if my friends, family and social media viewers get tired of the same old buildings. (They tell me no). So one morning recently, I decided to photograph something I’ve noticed since moving here: the diversity of maintenance hole covers! Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, because we are a very diverse neighbourhood, with a wide range of services running under our streets. But take a look, and see if you don’t find these as intriguing as I do. I love that this one says “Regent Park”, which I hadn’t noticed until I lined up to take the shot.

Bell 1 Bell 2For example, we can see the evolution of covers used by the local telephone company. More examples exist, each reflective of a different era in the phone company’s history, but not on the route we took that day.

Storm Sewer

Some, of course, are Danger 1strictly utilitarian, like the sanitary sewer cover, which simply says “danger”, or the square storm IDangersewer cover. Others seem to send a marketing message with which the competitors of this local cable company might potentially have a field day: “Rogers Cable DANGER”.

Some are intriguing, and give no clue as to what can be accessed underneath, like the mysterious “maze” cover. MysteryIt’s quirky, and looks very 1960’s/70’s, but who can be sure? And what it’s for is anyone’s guess (please let me know, if you know! Last but not least, there’s the water works cover – WaterworksI wish we invested nearly as much effort in making utilitarian things beautiful and intriguing as well as functional as we did on the day they came up with this beauty! I hope you liked the tour of our city streets. As you can see, I had enough fun that I didn’t even mind taking my walk in the rain…