i took this picture last monday. ah, only now i realize that was yesterday. indeed, i took this picture yesterday, but somehow it seems ages ago... :) as you see, it was very sunny....
i guess most people know amsterdam has a lot of canals. 165 in total, some 60 miles of water, combined. there are also a lot of bikes, cars, houses, and not a lot of space. so... parking is often done right at the waterfront. unfortunately, its very important to always lock your bike to something (as i have written several times before). not only because someone might otherwise steal your bike.. every year between 12,000 and 15,000 bikes are fished out of the water!! im pretty sure most people dont have the habit of throwing their bikes into the water on purpose (i certainly dont have that desire), but someone else might just do it for you. here you can see a video of the piles of bikes coming out of the canals...
it also happens that cars get into the water. it is estimated that around 35 cars end up on the bottom of an amsterdam canal. they are parked at the edge as well, and having the car in reverse gear when expecting to go forward is sometimes all it takes to end up in the canal..... (this happened to one of tims colleagues. she got out fine but the car didnt... we dont need to park next to the water but just to be sure we did get an emergency hammer recently....)
5 comments:
It looks like it would be very easy to end up in a canal...too easy if you're not very awake in the morning, or spent too much time at a pub, especially...
In earlier years, I might have scoffed at the idea of shifting into reverse instead of forward and ending up in a canal, but no more. My new car has a weird shifting process and I have to check it carefully to be sure I don't go in the wrong direction.
(Love the perspective on today's photo.)
Beautiful photograph.
Bike theft is worldwide in every city but you have a bonus of being able to drive into a canal.
PS: Nice photo.
Jack better not take his car to Amsterdam! I am quite amazed at the number of bikes and cars that end up in the canals. Never occurred to me.
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