We interrupt this program . . .

I know . . . you're waiting breathlessly for me to finish what has become the saga of my doing laundry but I have to interrupt that story line for a moment . . .

. . . BREAKING NEWS . . .

I often, but not always, use a particular "cut through" on my commute to and from work. It all depends, as you might well imagine, on which of my routes I use. Nonetheless, this particular little back door treat allows me, and everyone who knows about it, to avoid two heavily trafficked streets near the LSU Campus. It also allows riders to enjoy a more or less serene view of one of the little lakes near campus and, a particular pleasure of mine this time of year, to enjoy the scent of the Banana Shrub (Michelia figo) in bloom at the intersection of May / July Streets and the cut through. Pure olfactory delight, I'm telling you.

Unfortunately, the cut through, though named on maps, is in fact a private street. Yes, you read that correctly - a private street.

Granted, part of it runs behind and through a series of apartment / condo developments and serves as their means of gaining access to the public roads at each end. And, granted, those are private properties. Given Louisiana land laws, the owners can do whatever they damn well please and do it they are.

It seems the owners of the large apartment / condo complex has succeeded in buying the two smaller adjoining apartment / condo complexes and wants to make all of them part of one big "gated community." For years the largest complex has had fencing and gates but the gates were either left open or were broken and left open by all the in-out traffic generated by the largely university-aged residents. In effect, the fencing and gates were a cosmetic touch, not a functioning defense against the outside world and we could use the connection to avoid often heavy traffic on State Street and Dalrymple.

No more . . . or not for much longer. I've been noticing the appearance, slow and gradual, of fence and gate posts, over the last couple of months, at the lake side of the compound. At the same time I've noticed fencing being dismantled on the State Street entrance side. I finally noticed the disappearance of the statue of the (unknown to me) LSU football coach that guarded the entrance. Now there is merely an empty concrete plinth in the middle of the street.

This morning I had to dodge around a parked pickup truck and a back-hoe at the lake side of things. The back-hoe was surprisingly delicate as it removed the turf to the side of the road exposing the soil beneath. Seems the owners of the private road are considerate of their driving compatriots and are constructing a turn-around for all those drivers who will soon find themselves unexpectedly facing a gated road. I imagine they may also find themselves facing some equally surprised bicyclists.

Now . . .  who will weep for us as we find ourselves on two-wheels mixing it up with the four-wheeled impatient children in much-too-large vehicles texting their way to the bar? Hum? Who is going to wonder why, all of a sudden, there are all these bicyclists on State Street and Dalrymple?

<sigh>

. . . We now return to our regularly scheduled program already underway . . .