An unusual route taken after biking my kid to camp and then stopping in at the school district office to again prove we live within the district for the coming school year. At least I saw some beautiful decay because of it.
Sedan de Ville and corrugated steel, that is. Yes, I seem to be back on the car crack.
Earlier this year I changed my morning route to work by bicycle. I was hoping to find an easier way to cross busy Sacramento St near the BART station (which I did), and the side benefit was coming across this specimen.
My poor old ’99 Impreza hadn’t had any TLC for thousands and thousands of miles. It was starting to complain to me. It whined when I cranked the wheel to pull away from the curb. It slammed its wipers into the hood with every wipe. It stubbornly plodded when I tried to spur it on.
So, on a drizzly bay morning before work last week, I dropped it off for servicing in west Berkeley. Unfortunately, my bike doesn’t quite fit in the little guy, so after running down the list of complaints to the service manager, I left on foot. I missed the Ashby Ave bus by seconds. Off I went on my damp, 2.5-mile walking commute through Berklandville. While I was hurrying to get to work, I decided to make the most of it and stop to shoot when necessary. Like when I came across these guys, slowly disintegrating in the urban wilderness of the East Bay. At least I got my Subaru feeling better before it came to a similar fate.
For several years, I had thought about this shot along I-80 in Berkeley, back when I commuted to Emeryville. Each morning when the conditions were just so, I would think to myself that I should try to take a photo, and that I should be ready the next time. And each day, I would get to work, start my day of worries and promptly forget about it. Then I didn’t have that commute anymore and really did forget all about it. Then, the other day, I drove to work instead of biking and the sun was was out, and there it was again. And there was my camera on the seat next to me. Now, shooting photos while driving in rush hour traffic is not too smart or safe, so I didn’t linger long. This is not what I imagined was possible with the scene, but it is a start. Perhaps if I can get someone else to drive while I hang out the back window I can see what we can do.
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