Monday, March 31, 2008

Landscaping Improvements

Say you're visiting Dublin and you find that all that exercise has left you perspiring. You'd like to stop in at a pub for a cold pint, but at the risk of offending with your body odor, you move along down Cathal Brugha Street, dehydrated and spitting cotton.

If the Dublin City Council has their way, streets in the city could soon be sporting these lovely facilities. Perfect for the visitor who can't get back to their hotel room easily. More perfect for the homeless, who don't have a shower or indoor plumbing. Or an indoors, by definition.

As put forward by the homeless charity Trust, these self-contained little capsules could be funded in part via large advertising placards, as shown in the example to the right. Really adds to the over-all atmosphere of the street, doesn't it. So colorful. So golden arching.

It's been proposed that a small fee be charged, unless a person is so destitute that the small fee is out of reach and then they'd be given vouchers. A blast of water for fifteen minutes, and you're fresh as a spring daisy. Junkies would have to shoot up that much more quickly, given the time frame. Unless a workforce could be hired to monitor the showers, in which case the addicts would continue to make use of other public facilities now available.

Trust has suggested that these space capsule pods be placed near bus stops and near tourist attractions, under the assumption that the homeless would be panhandling among commuters and tourists, so they'd need their shower facilities close at hand.

And you, the over-heated tourist, can enjoy a public shower whenever the mood strikes. Keep some shower sandals at the ready. You wouldn't want to be stepping on all the used needles that the junkies will be dropping.

No comments: