6.30- South Ave. Utility Work

Old Glory is secured to the bucket

Utility workers blocked off South Avenue between Wall St. and King St. for a while today while replacing a utility pole.

I arrived just as the worker in the bucket finished lashing the flag to the bucket... the flag was placed on the pole along with thousands of others throughout town and Pamlico County in anticipation of Independence Day.

The utility work caused severe traffic tie-ups in the downtown Oriental area...

I stood and watched for about ten minutes, and there must have been at least four or five cars in that time that had to turn around in the Oriental Inn parking lot in order to bypass the blockage (since Wall St. [off to the left in the picture] was the only way in or out) at this heavily-traveled intersection leading from greater downtown Oriental to the sprawling suburb of Neuse River Heights and to such popular tourist destinations as Lou-Mac Park, the fishing pier, the South Avenue waterfront (visible dead ahead in the photo), and Miniscule Beach.

The levels of driver frustration were palpable... as one fed-up driver rashly exclaimed in a fit of violent rage: "Well, I s'pose ah'll jes turn 'round 'bout hair, and go on back 'round t'other way." Really, that's about as accurate a quote as I can give him... that guy clearly needs to chill a bit, take a little BP med and relax ... ONC stylee! We don't appreciate that kind of reactionary threat around here...

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