Got a book you no longer need?
Leave it here for others to read.
Consider it a neighbourly deed.
That’s the saying written around the door frame of the free book exchange on Clare Street near Oak Bay Avenue.
And if you’re out walking Spot, there’s a water bowl set out especially for him! So, it’s okay to take time choosing a good book. Mighty neighbourly, don’t you think?
But wait! There’s more!
A couple of residents are creative with their front yards, abandoning demanding lawns. That’s my soft spot. I ogle one lovely garden for a bit, before the one across the street calls my name & I’m off.
I zigzag back and forth across the street several times inside the same block. It’s good exercise. Luckily I wasn’t run over. Perhaps I have a guardian angel. Or perhaps it’s really because of these thoughtful traffic calming features along this special street:
I have to smile. These wooden cut outs have a bottom piece that slips into the top of the sign post. Voilà! Instant Pet Crossing signs. These could be made for any street. How about that!
Even though my street is only a block long, and a dead-end, it’s surprising how fast some vehicles travel on it. Perhaps some of these s signs would do well around here. How would they go over on your street? Would there be smiles?
I’ve often noticed that the bigger the city, the less folks in public make eye contact. Understandably, it’s a way to have privacy even when surrounded by crowds but I’m glad to see that in this city, there’s enough space for some small town friendliness.
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© copyright 2013 SVSeekins
P.S. check these other street libraries out:
- near Hillside & Cook
- near Vista Heights & Prior
- in Dragon Alley
- and a parade of even more Street Libraries
P.SS. I hear there’s a similar street on the mainland::
Garden Variety Life 
interesting! wonder how long it’ll take before they’ll havea a fixed tablet or something and you’ll be able to browes and “borrow” files for e-readers!
No kidding… the irony of discovering such a funky community builder just when I’ve been lured to the dark side by KOBO… C is not really grooving on the street library idea (even though I have plenty of paperbacks to share), but perhaps I can convince him to move fwd on the Pet Crossing signs
Those animal cut outs really work. If I detour the car down Clare St. I go extra extra slow. Before I lived down this way I remember seeing those cutouts and it was a good reminder I was in a residential area (after coming off OB Ave.).
Thanks for letting me know about how the signs work…. maybe I will start working on some cut outs for this street…. paint a cat to look like Jack 🙂