Urban bike rack in Montreal

This is a post I've been meaning to put up for some time now, but I think I was saving it for a special occasion - well, that time is now. Thanks to A. Watson for a very artsy submission, straight from Canada, eh? (Couldn't resist.)

She found this masterpiece in Montreal (as it so eloquently says on the bike rack itself), which combines my two of my all-time favorite things - fun, colorful graffiti and, you guessed it, bike rack.

Because this is Canadian, I think there might be something lost in translation. Is this is a squirrel that's chirping? Is it a cartoon bubble expressing his preference of moves in Tic-Tac-Toe? Either way, it brings some color and joie de vivre to otherwise homely gray steel.

Which brings us to the next question - is this bike rack guarding the tiny little bush from further harm? (I mean, you have to squint a bit to see it, but the green shrub is back there.) Does it need two pieces? Is there a rogue army of gardeners prowling Montreal in search of unnecessary pruning?

Anyway. For bringing us such stellar compositions of urban life in a sort-of foreign land: FOUR bicycles out of four.

Bike rack splendor in Brasilia

Waving flag of Brazil...puffy white clouds drifting by in a stunning blue sky...and custom-made Brazilian barricade in the foreground.

Can't get better than that! Spotted by The Giff on a recent jaunt through South America, this bike rack specimen shows off a version not seen before - bike rack icons!

I'm not really sure whether or not the icon is a specific graphic for Brasilia (capital of Brazil, for all of you who didn't play Where in the World is Carmen San Diego for hours at a time when some other stupid kid was bogarting the Oregon Trail disk); but it is a play on the circle-in-diamond motif on the national flag. Well, uh, played. (I can do better than that. Come back later.)

For hidden messages in steel barricade...(maybe I'm reading too much into it) - FOUR bicycles out of four.