Pendant le deluge

It's springtime in Fredericton... and that means flooding.

Husband and I took some time to stroll along the river - which was a walk considerably farther south of where it would've been a week ago - and take some pictures.



This is Fredericton's famous "underwater rugby/soccer pitch". Underwater for a couple of weeks of the year, anyway. I've circled the goalposts.

No, we don't play much soccer here this time of year.



This is one of a number of small sheds the city has here and there along "the green" - the strip of green between the river and town where people jog, bike, stroll, hang out. Normally the river is, obviously, a hundred metres or more below this point!



Most of the ramps onto, and off of, the bridge across the river that unites the two sides of town were closed. What you see in this picture - St. Anne's Point Drive - is usually an extremely busy 4-lane divided highway. (The pale blue bridge you see in the photo is a pedestrian overpass that spans the Drive.) Today, with the boulevard closed, there was a sort of holiday atmosphere as it became a venue for family strolls.

I've posted some more pics of the flooding here.

Half the city was downtown today, it seemed, taking photos and videos of the flooding. And not because this year is particularly unusual - this is just 'high-average' flooding. No, it's more that it's part of the ritual of spring - the turn of the year - an annual nuisance, annoyance and, for some, expense that, for some reason, we regard with something almost like affection.

ronnie