Comments on: "Lovers locks" to be cut from Roman bridge

By: Pedantic Douchebag

Pedantic Douchebag — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 02:23:00 +0000

Could you please send me a vial of your sweet, yet salty tears? I’d be forever grateful.

By: Rebecca Dominguez

Rebecca Dominguez — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:38:00 +0000

I walked on the bridge in the picture in Cologne in August, and it isn’t all that covered in locks, but about 60% of it is. Some of the locks are very heavy duty. Someone has also locked an angle-grinder to the bridge (go figure), and there are also a lot of heavy-duty bike locks.

It makes for great images, but I can take it or leave it.

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 03:19:00 +0000

If you look at the supplied picture, it will show the bridge is constructed of steel girders, which makes one question the historical value of the bridge. It might have an emotional value, and the locks might cause a maintenance problem, but is it really a historical landmark if it’s been torn down and rebuilt, and the most previous time was with very modern techniques?

Another commentor has said that the value is that there has been a bridge in the same place for quite a number of generations, but doesn’t tearing something down and rebuilding it significantly reduce the historical value?

Also, it’s usually considered polite to actually link to resources that you’re citing.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:20:00 +0000

It started in 2006. The thing with the locks isn’t an ancient tradition, but the bridge that they’re damaging is genuinely ancient.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:16:00 +0000

There’s this thing called Wikipedia that you may want to look into. (The rust is coming from the padlocks, not from structural elements of the bridge.)

By: Nathan Hornby

Nathan Hornby — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:32:00 +0000

Well that’s just not very nice.

By: Pedantic Douchebag

Pedantic Douchebag — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:12:00 +0000

By all means, stay on my lawn; that’s where I use the poisons that cause sterility.

By: Textuality

Textuality — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 10:06:00 +0000

So much quicker to just remove the grid that all of the locks are attached to. You could even keep the locks on display somewhere then.

That aside, I know for a fact that there’s a couple of seriously heavy duty locks there so they’re either going to have to cut the grid or use disc cutters instead of bolt cutters.

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 09:30:00 +0000

Being a wet blanket with knowledge of special html characters isn´t.
∞ alone :(

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 09:25:00 +0000

In South Korea they have streamlined the experience. At Seoul Tower you can buy branded padlocks and marker pens on site.

By: Nathan Hornby

Nathan Hornby — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 08:28:00 +0000

“3. heroic; majestic; impressively great”

Yup, I’ll take ‘impressively great’.

Incidentally, for those under 40 that’s all it means, and I will not get off your lawn.

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 06:05:00 +0000

A 2000 year old bridge made with steel girders??

By: Amelia_G

Amelia_G — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 05:55:00 +0000

When did this start? I first noticed it on a Magdeburg bridge, then realized it was some sort of new tradition in Cologne. The Magdeburg bridge featured a lock inscribed with a year before the Wall fell, but that must have been back-dated, oder?

By: Pedantic Douchebag

Pedantic Douchebag — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 03:23:00 +0000

That word, “epic”? Based on your usage here, it doesn’t mean what you think it means.

By: Cynical

Cynical — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 02:57:00 +0000

“Darling, our love shall last forever… Or at least until it starts to corrode the structure that supports it and is forceably stamped out by the government.”

Sounds like every relationship I’ve ever had…

By: smut clyde

smut clyde — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 02:36:00 +0000

Even the Scots are doing it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58450610@N08/6379775639/

– Not on a bridge, but on the top of a hill. I have no idea why there is a small metal loop bolted into the rock at the top of Arthur’s Seat. Perhaps it’s for anchoring zeppelins.
[not my photograph, I hasten to add]

By: Spodzilla

Spodzilla — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 02:24:00 +0000

It’ll certainly test your mettle.

By: Arnaud Clermonte

Arnaud Clermonte — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 01:56:00 +0000

Being a sheep is so romantic! ♥

By: cdh1971

cdh1971 — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 01:35:00 +0000

Europeans, wasting perfectly good locks, in the honour of fickle, fickle _love_.

By: Susan Carley Oliver

Susan Carley Oliver — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 23:58:00 +0000

OH NOES! The weight of one or two cars!! On a bridge!!!

By: blueelm

blueelm — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 23:03:00 +0000

I was just in Prague and they do it there too. I think it’s quite sweet. Yeah, they cut them off periodically. I didn’t know where the fad originated.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 22:34:00 +0000

Or perhaps it illustrates that some people will do anything to get laid.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 22:09:00 +0000

I have a massive grudge against Pecs, Hungary for messing up my Google and YouTube searches.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:47:00 +0000

Wait until it starts happening in the Vatican.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:33:00 +0000

You have to steel yourself for the task.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:26:00 +0000

They’ll just have to go back to getting Winona Forever tattoos.

By: Symbiote

Symbiote — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:07:00 +0000

The bridge shown above is the railway/pedestrian bridge in Cologne. Last time I was there we speculated how much the locks weighed, and whether it was a problem. We decided it was no problem at all, since the bridge was designed to carry 6(?) tracks of railway: the extra weight is hardly noticeable.

The bridge in Rome is a different matter, however.

By: smut clyde

smut clyde — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 20:13:00 +0000

A few months ago I was wondering about the padlocks proliferating on bridges in Cologne and Frankfurt. Good to know.

By: Manosaur

Manosaur — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:47:00 +0000

They should put out an open call to local artists to submit a proposal to turn those locks into some kind of public art piece. Now about this world peace problem…

By: David Davion

David Davion — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:04:00 +0000

It seems to me that they could prevent the problem entirely if they used a different type of material to cover the railings. I’d recommend thin metal bars, positioned perpindicular to those walking across the bridge to maintain viewability. The bars should be wide enough that most padlocks cannot wrap around them.