Street Lamps

Victoria has many different kinds of street lighting but these mock gas lamps that light Bastion Square are my favorites. (The thumbnail to the right is today's macro experiment, some delicious looking, organic Gala apples.)

100 Years of Light

This genuine old English gas lantern was in service on the streets of the County Borough of Walsall, near Birmingham, England, for over 50 years. Presented to the City of Victoria 1960.

Thus reads the plaque at the base of this lamp (right foreground) on the walkway above the Inner Harbour. It's not a gaslight any longer but it still brightens the night. (I'd be interested to know if any of my local readers knows why this lamp was presented to the city.) The gray art deco tower in the background rises above the Victoria Visitors Information Centre.

Street Furniture VI - Street Lamps

Victoria has a large variety of street lighting. On the left are two of the more common types in their Chinatown red versions. You may notice the sharp spiky things on top of the sodium vapor lamp in both photos. These are to deter Victoria's long-time residents, our local seagulls, from roosting there. In the photo on the right, if you click to enlarge it you can see on the lower stop/go light post the reason for discouraging these birds. Of course, it's not just meant to discourage seagulls. We have pigeons in Victoria also though they are not as numerous as seagulls, nor are they so large or ubiquitous. I often marvel when I look at the day's photos how many of them have seagulls perched or in flight somewhere in the frame. In the photo to the right, on the chimney to the right of the roof of the chinese gate stands today's seagull.