Stile

Revolving doors. I never understood them until we moved someplace cold. When I came across a revolving in Minnesota, and it was blowing snow and -10°F outside, the doors finally made sense: they provide an airlock so that rushes of frigid air don’t blow in every time someone opens the door to enter or leave.

Once I figured that out, I loved revolving doors. They make sense! They have a purpose! They are cool-looking and pragmatic!

For the same reasons, I love traffic circles. They make sense, they look cool, and they have a purpose: to keep traffic moving. The only thing I don’t like about them is that, like revolving doors, many people don’t know how to use them. The same is true in Savannah’s squares. Drivers aren’t sure when to yield and when to keep driving.

It really is easy, though: if a car is already on the roundabout or the square, that car is already on the road and therefore has the right of way — if the circle were straightened, it would be clear that the car on the circle was already on the road. Likewise, if you are entering the square or the roundabout, it is the same as turning onto a road, and so you must yeield.

Revolving doors and roundabouts are fun, but stiles? I have no feeling about stiles. I suppose they control herds, whether cattle or people. And they allow for counting if one wants to count. So they are useful, I guess. But those aspects of stiles don’t inspire me. Their shape and movement, though — those remind me of revolving doors, and somehow, those are inspiring.

Photo credit: Stepping Out by Alexander Mueller

For the month of November, I will be participating in NaBloPoMo and plan to publish every day of the month. Usually, I will publish a 10-minute free write, initiated by a prompt from my prompt box. Minimal editing. No story. Just thoughts spilling onto the page. Follow along with the tag #NovemberDaily.