Parksville's horizontal forest

Parksville city christened it their "Waterfront Walkway"... and erected another in their series of magnificent new decorative signs to celebrate its presence. I have renamed their walkway the horizontal forest, because it must have consumed hundreds, if not thousands of previously vibrant, vertical trees. Yes, I am prone to using hyperbole from time to time, but I ask you, was it really necessary to use 3in x 8in x 15 ft dimension lumber, or to edge it with raised 8in x 8in wooden curbs? I guess the engineers responsible for the design must have really taken to heart the little tsunami warning sign at the other end of the beach. I am quite convinced you could drive a Centurian tank along this extraordinary board walk structure, without doing any damage at all. Perhaps in the future the city has plans to use it as a parking lot to augment the below sea-level parking stalls built under the adjacent highrise and midrise condominium towers which almost completely block the panoramic beach view from Parksville's main drag.

The north portal to our new boardwalk

And what did this magnificent structure cost? Well I'm glad you asked, because it must have been a steal at just a few thousand dollars over $1,000,000 mark. They also had a sign up for a few days to celebrate that statistic, but for some odd reason that one disappeared remarkably quickly.

At the other end of the beach there is an also new, asphalt paved walkway adjacent to the erosion prone section of the shore which was mechanically re-shaped two years ago, also at substantial cost, in an attempt to stop the inevitable progress of the ocean's efforts to reshape the shore line at the expense of the Parksville's famous Park. And would you believe that to separate that walkway from the beach, (perhaps to prevent cars from driving down the embankment or to further obstruct the view from the few remaining parking spots?) they built a fence using imitation wood, precast concrete posts and planks, replete with wood grain finish etched into each rock-hard component. How ironic!

Oh, and I almost forgot these tiny little LED lights built into the walkway curb timbers. I really must go down there after dark some evening soon to see if they actually do work, or if they're just reflectors.

I did note one rather good thing about my horizontal forest though, that is apart from the fact that my wife and I really do rather enjoy strolling along it... That other good thing? These blankety blank Canada geese don't appear to be at all interested in using it as an extended biffy, as appears to be their habit and right almost everywhere else in the world.

Watch your step. It's a dangerous world out there! And as I've observed before, it's just as well that cows can't fly. But I certainly do wish that more dog owners would pick up after their hounds, as the by-laws require.