Friday 4 July 2008

Don't fret! - # 08/154

Thanks to all who rushed to my rescue over my tendency to make the Thames flow uphill. And yes, I do have "tilt adjusting" software, which I frequently have to use!!!!!!

So what does this picture say and what does it show? (It's worth clicking on it to enlarge and see the quality).

1. It shows (and says) that now and then I can take pictures that are properly levelled.

2. It shows the delightful fretwork, tiling and detailing put into the typical late Victorian/Edwardian villa built at the turn of the 19th century. And it shows that a lot of original features remain. Many iron railings were ripped out during wartime to provide scrap metal for weapons production. Were these replaced, or did the original railings somehow escape ? Very few escaped; much was lost. Look at Post # 08/151 and you will see that the funny curved metal clip thing is the same as the footing of the railing in this picture # 08/154 i.e. evidence of railings cut off to go for scrap.

3. It says something about quality standards and about the difficulty of caring for elegance and graceful material structure as it decays (even our own human form). It comments on the cost of maintenance and the provision of resources to meet it. It asks a lot of questions about passing time and the move into the future, especially in a country like Britain.

7 comments:

  1. Et cela dit aussi que le owner ou le locataire est important dans ce que devient la maison.
    Tu pars d'une même maison et suite à des aménagements différents provennant de goûts et de modes de vie et sans doute aussi de moyens financiers différents, tu finis par avoir deux maisons totalement différentes

    Ce que tu dis, que ta photo est de niveau, contredit la façon de prendre les photos de Richard qui n'a pas souvent des photos de niveau.
    ;o)
    Est ce un bien ou un mal ?
    Depuis que je prends des photos, mes photos sont de niveau... en général. Cela devient instinctif. Lorsque par contre il arrive qu'elles en le soient pas, je me suis aperçue que si je les redresse, elles sont bancales. Lorsque je prends des photos, je sens comment elles doivent être pour être équilibrées.
    De Richard j'ai appris (au moins) cela.

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  2. @Cergie.....Toi? Banale? Je m'en doute, Madame! Oh, qui va me liberer de cette manie de me restricter a ne fair que les photos de niveau?

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  3. ...and it says that bicycles are still a reasonable form of transport in the UK.

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  4. Nice little old houses. (My screen is not large enough to see the photo as a whole.)

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  5. Hi Chuckeroon! Great picture, huge photo... ;))
    Loved that «It couldn't be anywhere..." picture. Stunning!
    Thanks for your comment on Blogtrotter, now on its last post on Santiago de Compostela! Wish you a wonderful weekend!

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  6. The grandfather of a friend of mine at school was responsible for the decision to decapitate all of those beautiful railings during the war. None were replaced, and apparently none of the material was suitable for producing weapons

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  7. @Richard....quite so. That's how I also heard it. I would have thought that any 18 yr old student would have known that. Strange decisions governments make!

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