Today's word is fence and it's black and white Wednesday, so I decided it was time to show another view from the roof (or at least the back deck) and one of Chicago's neighborhood features. From our roof looking east, I see the spectacular Chicago skyline. Looking north, I see the skyline with the university below. But looking down, as you see here, we see an interweaving of back decks, alleyways, fences of all kinds, and rows of trash cans. Chicago was one of the earliest cities to create alleys, allowing trash to be hidden (unlike in, say, NYC) from the public areas. It also means we can have garages with entrances off the alley as well (with VERY tight fits for our cars). The big news in our neighborhood was the introduction about 3 weeks ago of blue (literally) trash cans for recycling. A separate truck picks up the blue trash can contents. Up until recently even if we recycled using blue trash bags and put them in a separate spot, the same truck would pick up everything and put it in the same place. And we were supposed to believe that somewhere, teams of people sorted it all. While gritty and not terribly attractive, our alleys are an important part of neighborhood life -- but not an area I will go in after dark!
Love all the lines! We have separate cans for recycling, trash, glass and yard debris. And I have bins in the garage for stuff that's more challenging to recycle, and a compost bin in the back yard.
@nanalisarocks Thanks Lisa! What you describe is what we had in Michigan as well. And in suburbs here. But the city has been so far behind. On Beaver Island we have to take our trash and recycling to the transfer station, so it makes us very aware of just how much we generate, even just the two of us.
@nanalisarocks So interesting! When we come back from MI, we are appalled at the lack of recycling, and then over the months, we get lax. IT was just a joy to see the blue trash cans -- it sounds silly, but it really was a big deal in our neighborhood.
I love the layers of lines. Works well in black and white. More abstract. Happy to hear you have recycling bins. Europe is really hot on this. In Nottingham we have 4 different bins!
It does look very urban and interesting, I can´t believe all those power lines just going there like that! Thanks for showing us this view Taffy! It´s interesting to see different parts of this world through different eyes.
I love back alleys Taffy they are such interesting places and full of character. This works so well in b&w. is the whole bin blue? We have green bins that blend well in the environment, the lids are different colours, red for general rubbish, yellow for recycling and green for garden rubbish. Other areas may have different colours.
b&w works well for this. Very interesting read and capture. We are very rural and have to lug our recycling bin (big on wheels) to the road once every two weeks - just under a 1/4 mile from the house to the road - then once a week we have to take the garbage can out there. Glass we have to drive a couple of miles away to recycle. Interesting how differently it's done everywhere.
@elaine55 Thanks for commenting Elaine. The bins are bright blue -- the whole thing! I've been trying to figure out how to photograph this using selective color, because all of a sudden, our alleys just pop blue color instead of dreariness. Hopefully it does mean the city is doing some serious recycling.
Awesome capture of the urban gritty Chicago in b&w! Thinking of your other shots in contrast, I am reminded of A Tale of Two Cities. Thank you for showing us this view.
