Thomas Street

The Southard Street Gate never did materialise at the entrance to Truman Annex, after the Navy threatened the Truman Annex master Property Owner's Association with a lawsuit if they put up a gate. Work stopped and the holes were promptly filled in. The guardhouse is staffed at night (visible in the distance in the picture above) but it remains unoccupied during the day when traffic can travel freely to and from the waterfront. So freely indeed, not many cars would notice Thomas street off to the north, towards the new courthouse:And why would a passer by turn onto Thomas in this direction?The sign on top is a terminological inexactitude as the street is now open at both ends. For a while the road was closed at Fleming thanks to the construction of the new courthouse, The Freeman Justice Center, but that's done and Thomas Street is a handy way to avoid the interminable light at Southard and Whitehead (in front of the Green Parrot). This section of Thomas Street is all county business or government of one sort apparently:Nasty fences, no signs and buildings painted battle ship gray, all terribly ominous:Thomas Street in the opposite direction, heading south from Southard Street is a little more slack, perhaps more human:Behind the county buildings, wedged into a small space next to the boundary of Truman Annex there is parking for all those beavering county employees:Which if it weren't so out-of-the-way might make this a useful place to park after hours now that the Post Office has got so hard core about their lot next door. This place is a desert on a Friday evening:It's not totally deserted:The parking lot is divided by a leaf filled dusty median strip which is traversed by a cute little wooden footbridge. I have no idea who put it there nor why:There's another such bridge at the pedestrian entrance to Thomas Street, with more fences and the county clock tower in the background:The impenetrable fences are everywhere down here keeping people out of the county property:The Freeman Justice center mercifully isn't so girded and stands imposing at the end of the street:It bears the symbols of the Conch Republic, ready to assume the mantle of the headquarters of any future breakaway republic:I spotted a couple of lost tourists, consulting their oracles marching past the endless building as though not sure where they might end up, reading the map, discussing and walking.I think they were Europeans and I felt once again that perhaps I should have stepped in to offer unsolicited directions. Instead I took a picture of Truman Annex at Fleming:Or looking towards Whitehead on Fleming:As you can see: wide open to traffic in all directions after months of construction.