Wooden sidewalks and streetcars

The picture on the left shows the shaped wooden interior of an old street car that now runs back and forth across Fort Edmonton Park. Once a common sight, a wooden barrel, now a novelty, is visible through the window.

Before concrete became the norm, wood was used for train platforms and level crossings as well as sidewalks. I walked to Grade 3 on a sidewalk like the one below.

Some days we avoided walking on the cracks, or the nails that held down the planks, believing this would bring bad luck. The  chant went like this:

Step on a crack, break you mother's back.
  
                                 Step on a nail; your father goes to jail.