Submitted by Yvonne Sabraw
If you haven’t had a reason to come check out the finished construction along Sunnyhill Lane, you really owe it to yourself to swing by and take a look. This is the culmination of the City realizing it had to extend the sewer system to go further than just a few metres north of 7th Street. Those of us on the Lane got to watch some serious construction since early June, alll very exciting if you like big machines digging deep holes.
And now, in keeping with “if you build it, they will come” - the newly paved Lane is teeming with kids.
If you’re a kid, what’s not to love about an expansive flat surface where there used to be holes and gravel? You can bounce a ball, You can run barefoot. Your wheels can roll so fast you can glide like the wind.
The chorus of voices suddenly crying out in unison, “CAR!” Is music to our ears - a spontaneous moment of harmony. Where once fierce opponents battled each other in two-on-three ball hockey, or raced down the lane - scooter versus rollerblades - there is suddenly cooperation, the priority now to keep each other safe. And as that car passes, neighbourly interaction: the driver rolling down her window and asking incredulously “Have you kids seriously been at this since I last saw you three hours ago?!” And being reassured by laughing faces “oh no, we did go in for lunch!”
The timing couldn’t have been better for the reopening of a paved Sunnyhill Lane that now has a full-length sewer system to drain the puddles (some would say small lakes) that plagued us. Well before the onset of blustery fall weather, with plenty of summer days left for our community to make the Lane our own, we’ve been throwing around ideas of basket ball hoops and painting the pavement to encourage interactive activities and discourage vehicles speeding. We are hoping to host a gathering very soon to celebrate our new space - perhaps an afternoon tea with scones. Stay tuned for the date.