this image suffers from compression artifacts (PS level 5) necessary to keep it within 150K. Less compressed version can be found here;
http://www.pbase.com/image/39830173

This is a characteristic small street with wooden houses from the center of Trondheim, Norway, where I live. Unfortunately, fires slowly eat up these houses and then they are replaced by ugly shopping centers. The signs which you see are no parking signs. This is another local speciality: hostile official attitude toward cars despite the majority of families have two cars. In fact, we have the largest road bump placing industry in the world and all the official initiatives are usually consist in making some hindrance to driving. And the car related taxes, of courses, are a sort of institutionalized robbery.