Functionally obsolete

NO, not me ...  Although, that's an angle I might yet pursue.

I drove to Columbia today for lunch with a friend.  He lives in a comfortable apartment overlooking the Congaree River between the Blossom and Gervais Street bridges on the river's west side.  I left home early in order to have a few minutes to spend in a small park on the Three Rivers Greenway at the west end of the Gervais Street Bridge.

It was the bridge I wanted to see, up close and with the camera in hand.  Again.  While I am drawn to bridges wherever I go, this particular one -- opened in 1927 and built at a cost of just over half a million dollars -- is a long-time favorite.

I found those details and many more on the SC Department of Archives and History's web site.  It was on another web site, Bridgehunters, that I picked up one fact about the bridge that both irked and amused me simultaneously.  It's in good repair, well maintained and in 2008 carried 27,500 vehicles every day.  But it's functionally obsolete.  That is, it does not function in the manner that it did originally.  So, for example, when it was new it boasted the widest roadway in the state.  Obviously, that's no longer true. 

I suspect, however, that functionally obsolete means that, despite its graceful beauty and its continued usefulness, it doesn't move traffic as well as a newer, wider bridge would.  For now, though, it's still there.  I'm glad, first of all.  And, secondly, I'll stand and admire it as frequently as I can.

My favorite bridge, locally anyway ...

I don't know how in the world it happened.  How did I manage to arrive in Columbia over a half an hour early for a visit and lunch with a friend.  Given our capital city's traffic, there wasn't time to run any errands, thirty minutes not being quite long enough for anything on my list.

What to do?  Maybe I could show up that early.  But, I didn't want to test that maybe.

But, there's a beautiful bridge.  We have a Blue Sky print of it over our bed, a Christmas gift from Tal one Christmas nearly twenty years ago.  The new River Front Park is on US 1, where the bridge crosses the Congaree River from Cayce into Columbia.  I stopped there, enjoyed a short walk, sat on a bench with a great view of the bridge and made several pictures at the end of the morning on this pretty autumn day.

 
In the end I was only a minute or two late!  Lunch was good and our visit was better.  Getting to see the Gervais Street Bridge up close -- and not while driving a vehicle -- was an unexpected bonus.

Familiar but different

Today is a day long-awaited by the people of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia SC. After two and a half years of worshipping on the basketball court (a very nice court, mind you) in the Trinity Center and after a restoration of the cathedral in advance of its bicentennial in 2012, the space reopened this morning. The music was magnificent, the processions long; the prayers were heartfelt, the sermon inviting.

Those present for worship at each of the four services -- three in the morning and one in the afternoon -- celebrated the end of a long project and enjoyed a feast not only for their souls and bodies, but for their eyes as well. The cathedral is still the cathedral. And, when the dean at the beginning of the liturgy welcomed everyone home, enthusiastic applause was the only possible response. But, that very familiar space is also quite different -- more polished than before, a little rearranged in places. There was an exuberance I cannot quite explain, but perhaps this photograph looking up into the apse will illustrate. The sea of Trinity crosses in the red ceiling is a wonderful, new feature.

Our day after the 11:15 service included a delicious and leisurely lunch date while still in Columbia and a long walk once back at home and in comfortable clothes.

It's been a day of Sabbath time for the two of us. It's been a treasure of a day -- for us and for the people of Trinity Cathedral.

Deliver me

The post's title is part of a longer sentence uttered by my dear husband as we approached Columbia this morning in rush hour traffic. "Lawd, deliver me from this." At the moment he was definitely speaking for us both. I-20 was fully stopped in advance of the interchange with SC6 and again at US1. When traffic did move, it inched. When it moved faster, drivers tended to accelerate too rapidly, requiring panic stops when, inevitably, progress came to a halt once again. Fortunately, the heavy rain that moved through during the night had abated. I don't know if it's merely a perception on my part, but I do believe drivers operate their vehicles differently (translated: worse) in bad weather.

"Deliver me," he exclaimed. It might be a good idea to make those appointments for a bit later in the morning. Without doubt extended stop-and-go traffic like we experienced today makes us both appreciate our rural existence and Edgefield's three stop lights.

But, today wasn't totally consumed with "deliver me" moments. With another appointment for tomorrow morning and a SC Troopers Association Christmas gathering this evening at a Columbia hotel we are staying in the area for the night. While it rained much of the day (an understatement), we got in a good walk along the Columbia Canal between Tal's appointment and lunchtime.

As we walked, we talked about other time we'd walked that same path and realized we were celebrating an anniversary. Tal and I began dating after Thanksgiving in 1988 and one of our first adventures was a walk along the canal, then something of a novelty having not been open very long. The area has developed well, the walking path along the canal having been extended all the way to Gervais Street and the State Museum, and the area at the head of the Canal with a long view of the Broad River now sporting a replica of one of the four lock-keepers' houses and even a fish ladder. The canal area is now part of the Three Rivers Greenway, a 12-mile linear park on both sides of the Broad and the Saluda and along the Congaree which is formed at their junction.

So, we didn't need to be delivered from everything today. Making it into Columbia without incident brought us to a very enjoyable place and a remarkable anniversary walk. Today, by the way, we walked farther and faster and more companionably than we did 20 years ago. Pretty impressive, all things considered.