Fall of the Puddle

By: Rebecca Gonner

As the spring semester begins, Western students have flocked back to campus from their winter break retreats. The halls of Simpkins are once again filled with the chatter of classmates and colleagues, and the squeals of shoes on the outdated tiles. Yet one staple feature of Simpkins Hall did not return from our well-deserved break.

Due to the efforts of our landscapers over the course of this past fall semester, the infamous puddle that we all loved to hate no longer forms at the sidewalk juncture on the north side of the English building. For those of you just joining our readership, you can learn more about the now-extinct Simpkins puddle in this article I wrote last year.

You may have noticed university workers outside Simpkins, working on the grassy area adjacent to the Simpkins Sidewalk Dip (explained in the previous article). Though I didn’t pay them much attention during the process, in hindsight it’s clear the workers were steamrolling the ground to create a path for the water that normally puddles all across the sidewalk to drain down into the grass. The picture to below shows the path that the water now takes.

It may not look like much of a difference, but the slight dip in the grass created by this steamrolling was all that was needed to redirect the rainwater away from the sidewalk. The picture below shows where the ground was lowered to allow gravity to lead the water off of the sidewalk.

The students of Western need no longer to fear damp socks or puddly footprints previously caused by collisions with the once-formidable puddle. The path to the home of English shall forevermore remain clear of watery obstructions.