Jun 03 2009

Suggestions For Kazakhstan – Part I

Category: KazakhstanChrisM @ 8:05 pm

This is the first part of a series of posts on things that have occurred to me since moving back here to Astana…

Not all of us chose something like a Bob stroller when it came to the time to choose transportation for our babies, so if Astana’s Akimat (Mayor basically), could see his way to ensuring that the kerb stones and pavements, at least on the major roads, were easily accessible for pushchairs (and wheelchairs when it comes down to it), life would be a lot easier for some people. Currently, pavements (sidewalks (?) I believe for any American readers often have kerbs that are higher than the pavement, dropping down to a road that is lower than the pavement. Assuming the font used on this blog doesn’t mangle my ASCII stick art too badly, this is what you end up with … _|- … an un-necessarily large drop, with a fence like kerb in the middle. If these could be altered to something like _/ , so a slope was involved, then moving around would be less of a problem, and prams would last longer.

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4 Responses to “Suggestions For Kazakhstan – Part I”

  1. Chris Webb says:

    Ah the joys of motoring or sort of!!!

  2. Chris Merriman says:

    Traffic lights that have been turned off and replaced by a traffic cop with a stick are another fun thing to encounter whilst pushing a buggy around. When do we cross? Who knows, lets wait until everyone suddenly decides to try – that way their bodies should slow the car down by 1/2mph or so before they hit us as well :-/

  3. Walton Burns says:

    Yes, part 2 should be about separate times for pedestrian crossings both when there are traffic cops and not. And the number of Parenting Fails when people shove their baby carriages (buggies in UK English) out in front of them to try to stop cars before they cross.

  4. Chris Merriman says:

    Those parents need to be put in front of a speeding train (pulled back at the last minute/second obviously), see how they enjoy the experience. Or maybe just hit on the head with a mallet until they show some sign of recognising their problems.Over on the blog ( http://ChrisMerriman.com ), I am indeed intending to write sugesstions Parts II,III etc., but I'm trying to marshal my thoughts and not let it turn into one segmented bitching session.