Tag Archives: roof

Surely Not More Window Cleaning

I imagine you are wondering how many posts I can get out of the theme of window cleaning. Well, here comes another one. I think this will be the last one though, not least given our departure from Chicago. This time I found myself looking down as a couple of guys were heading out over the edge of the building roof to clean another line of windows. Watching people descend the side of the building is one thing but the first step over the edge always seems more precarious.

Additionally, the guys attach their lines to something solid on the roof. However, I was not so impressed by the choices they were making. Hooking on to an air conditioning unit did not seem quite as solid as whatever I would choose to base my survival on.

Convertible Delivery Trucks

The number of bridges and underpasses in the city mean there are plenty of signs showing vehicles what the height restrictions are. As someone who drives cars that will fit anywhere, I don’t pay a huge amount of attention to these signs. I don’t even have a honking great SUV so there is never any problem. If I was a truck driver, I imagine I might be a bit more aware of these things. Then again, maybe you assume the height they post on the sign has a bit of wiggle room built in.

Whatever the story, someone got it wrong the other day near us. I was walking across the pedway to go to Michigan Avenue when I saw a guy getting a step ladder out and looking at the top of the truck – or at least what used to be the top of the truck. Half of it was gone and a few of the cross struts for the roof could be seen hanging down inside the vehicle. I guess they got it wrong. Either that or the sunny weather made them turn the truck into a convertible!

What a Nice Roof

Some of my travels take me to Oakland. There, I visit a building called the Rotunda. It is a quite striking building internally and I have grabbed a number of shots of it and played with 360 panoramas as well. However, this time I was just focused on looking straight up. Too often we put things in the context of our viewpoint so we see the areas leading up to the roof. This time I just looked straight up and cut out everything on the sides. Consequently, I found my eye did not wander but homed in on the glass roof itself. It really is very cool.