Life in the Lego City

Along the path I walk to work, there used to be a house at 85th Avenue and 108th Street. There was little to distinguish this house from the others in the neighbourhood. It was small and peaceful.

Now the house is gone. Giant diggers came and removed it. This happened several months ago. I wait for the construction of whatever will replace it. Probably a condo building. We like condos in Edmonton!

There is a transitory feel to the development of this town, sort of like children playing with Lego. Let’s build this. Let’s demolish it. Let’s building something else. Oops, I got a booger on it.

Southgate Shopping Mall just commenced its second renovation project in under a decade. The old city hall and Edmonton Journal building were replaced in the 1990’s. Heritage Mall is now the new and exciting Century Park.

This might strike some as exciting. It strikes me as a bit unsettling.

It takes a long time for a disrupted area of land to settle down and for life to resume. Trees need time to grow. Flowers need to be planted. In a couple of decades, a new neighbourhood might start to feel comfortable and inviting.

Sadly, there are few parts of Edmonton that are ever given the chance to feel comfortable and inviting. It’s as if, every year or so, the restless arm of a child descends at random from on high and smashes a city block before any maturation can occur.

We are a restless culture.

In brighter news, Interpol chose humble Our-town to stage one of their shows last night. Aside from the neanderthals who decided to flail about like dying fish in a boat (moshing... at Interpol????), everything was magnificent. Interpol are gloomy, romantic, mysterious, and strangely amusing. The bassist looks like an Austrian prince, preening and strutting, hoping for a peasant girl to throw him an embroidered handkerchief. He gives Ben Stiller in Zoolander a run for his money.