Padlocks on the Brooklyn Bridge
On my morning walks over the Brooklyn Bridge, I’ve noticed a fairly recent phenomenon: People have been clipping padlocks (and sometimes combination locks) to the railings, or to brackets attached to the stone towers, especially the one on the Manhattan end of the bridge. Some are engraved with the names of couples, some are inscribed with a Sharpie, and some are plain.
Meanwhile, having just read and enjoyed I Do Not Come to You by Chance, I was pleased to see that the author has won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa. I heard about it from African Literature News and Review, a lively and useful blog by Nigerian author and professor Chielo Zona Eze.
My friend the romance writer Eloisa James is on sabbatical in Paris this year and she recently posted that this is a Parisian tradition among newlyweds, to lock or seal your love in Paris. I suspect that people are leaving City Hall and doing the same. How it started, I don’t know, but it’s very sweet.