System at Work

 

Every year my husband and I spend a big chunk of the summer months in Redmond, a thirty-minute drive from Seattle, USA. My write ups posted from this evergreen state, Washington, have often been about the beautiful city landscapes of dense deep creeks, tall lush trees, lakes, flowers, birds......

While I continue to delight in the gorgeous nature around me, this year I shifted focus - to observe the functioning of the city; something I realize, I have taken for granted so far .  

I step out of the house on to well laid out pavements that are consistently even along all the different walking routes I take each day.  Sometimes I see a large vehicle parked and a couple of men nearby attending to some maintenance work on, what appears to me, an already well-maintained pavement! Or sidewalk - as they say in American!

Crossing the road is a well-choreographed act. Easy, stress-free, a breeze! Press the button at the crossing and wait for the white figure to appear on the traffic lights signalling 'ok to cross'. I walk between the white lines on broad white stripes to the other side with confidence because motorists rarely make unpredictable manoeuvres. 

I've noticed too that vehicles stop a polite distance behind each other at traffic lights. At smaller intersections that do not have elaborate traffic lights, drivers stop and wait patiently even if I haven't yet reached the crossing to begin my walk across. Often, I pace up simply because I hate to make them wait😀

School buses are an entitled lot. All other vehicles are required by law to stop and wait at least 20 feet away from a school bus that has stopped by the roadside for kids to get on board. 

One morning I was walking on the pavement of a broad busy road. I stopped to watch the scene unfold on the other side. A school bus had just stopped. Immediately a dozen or so cars that were either behind or on the side of the bus, all stopped. One solitary little boy got into the school bus. His dad, who was seeing him off, climbed into the bus and had a fairly lengthy conversation with the bus driver. All this while the other vehicles stood where they were...patiently 😮. No impatient honks or other signs of urgency. Once the dad got off and waved to his little boy the bus moved forward. And the rest of the traffic moved on too.

One day in the week is scheduled garbage collection. Large colour coded trash cans are lined up outside every home, the colours indicating garbage segregation categories - compost (food & yard waste), recycle and trash. Garbage trucks come around and pick up garbage with their giant mechanical arms. There are separate trucks that come for each category of garbage; they all complete their turn by noon. By evening residents have wheeled back the trash cans to their regular spots. A neat operation.

What else...as I mull ...  stray images from my city walks pop up in my mind. A police car standing in a cul-de-sac and a policeman peering into the lone car parked there while his beat partner, a lady constable, made some notes. A street maintenance worker using a leaf vacuum machine to efficiently suck up all dry leaves from the roadside. Park maintenance staff going around the park on buggies trimming grass, clearing weeds, emptying garbage boxes...etc. 

Staff and volunteers working together wearing appropriate gear - gloves, inflatable jackets, waterproof boots - to clean and maintain wetlands, lakes and the other water bodies spread across the city. 

Smooth movement of vehicles in crowded parking lots that function effectively even though there is no one present to keep order. And people in the carparks are still courteous to one another 😊

Roads, traffic, parks, lakes...the city commons and the city's people...seem to groove together with mutual respect and care. 

Nothing dramatic, nothing exciting, mundane stuff.

 Some might say it's all just part of a system. And yet...

…I found my muse... hidden inside a system at work.