Victoria's "Blue Bridge"(Johnson St. Bridge) was opened in 1924
In 1979, the bridge was repaired and painted blue to match the oxides of the steel. The counter weight block on the highway span is a hollow concrete structure and contains a number of smaller concrete weights. It tips the scale at over 780 tons. It balances the 350-ton opening span. The linkage is moved by two large racks which are driven by two 75 horsepower electric motors.
The bridge handles 30,000 vehicles per day and thousands of pedestrians & cyclists
The old bridge's days are numbered though as on April 23rd, 2009, Victoria City Council gave approval-in-principle to replace the 85 year old Johnson Street Bridge. But, it won't go without a fight though, as in Victoria anything old is valued much more than anything new! So, as you might expect, a "Save the Blue Bridge" organization has emerged, complete with website, to try and stop the process. Stay tuned!
The Ocean Pointe Hotel Resort and Waterfront Walkway
So, how did I end up on the Johnson Street Bridge on a Sunday morning? Good question! Saturday afternoon, I got a phone call from a friend of mine, Nirmal Dillon, saying that he was still having problems with his home Wifi network. So, I told him I'd come down and have a look at it around lunchtime on Sunday. The route I took just happened to take me over the bridge on my way to Nirmal's.
Low clouds and mist covering the approach to the Malahat Summit on Sunday morning
When I got up Sunday morning and looked outside, I saw something that's been strangely missing from these parts for quite a while now - rain! It wasn't much, but at least it was enough to give everything a bit of a soaking. There was quite a bit of fog around too, so it was just a very nice, gloomy west coast morning - just what we've needed for a few months now. I left home around 11:00 and within 15 minutes I was approaching the summit of the Malahat and some very dense, low lying clouds and mist - we don't usually see this kind of stuff until November!
However, by the time I drove down off the Malahat and into Victoria, the skies were clearing and it turned out to be a very nice, warm day. As I was driving by another city landmark, Craigdarroch Castle, I decided to stop and take a quick look.
Craigdarroch Castle built by coal baron Robert Dunsmuir in the 1890's
Craigdarroch Castle is a historic, Victorian-era Châteauesque mansion comprising 39 rooms and over 20,000 square feet. It was constructed in the 1890s as a family residence for the wealthy coal baron Robert Dunsmuir and his wife Joan. The castle has a long, complex and interesting history which is too involved to detail here but for more information on its history just click on the above link. Since 1979 it has been run as a "house museum".
Finally, I managed to get over to Nirmal's about 12:30 to have a look at his wireless setup. It turned out that his daughter's desktop computer was simply too far away from his router, with too many obstructions and walls to receive a consistent strong signal.So, a not too technical solution was called for. We moved the desk with the computer to the other side of the large room, nearer the stairs, fired everything up again and were very happy to see a strong clear Wifi signal. No special "geek-ery" needed today - just strong backs!
By 1:30, I was back on the road and headed for home, only now there was more blue sky than clouds and it had warmed up considerably.
Malahat Summit - what a difference a couple of hours makes!
I got home just in time to turn on the TV and catch the end of the Bridgestone Invitational Golf Tournament - Tiger Woods was down by 1 with 4 holes left to play. A few minutes later, he had a 3 stroke lead and ended up coasting to a 4 stroke win, his second win in consecutive weeks - simply amazing!
That was my Sunday, except for the usual job of taking Molly and Rylie for a walk. Last night, I just watched a few old shows on TV, a bit of baseball and surfed the Internet. We have to take Rylie to the Vet this afternoon for another of her vaccinations.
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