Friday, March 22, 2013

Monumental

Here's a selection of sticky-uppy things to fit with this week's Sepia Saturday theme.

In the summer of 2005 I escorted my son and a friend to England for a few weeks. We were staying in Oakworth - a suburb, if you will, of Haworth, which is where I spotted this abandoned woolen mill near the steam railway.  Ruin or not, it enhanced my sense of time traveling.
Haworth, 2005

The kids demanded a daytrip to Blackpool and I was happy to oblige.  While they went on rides I wandered the town and beach, as is my wont. While we were here, bombs were going off in London around the corner from what was to be our hotel in a few days.

Blackpool, 2005
Earlier the same year, I'd accompanied my son on a school-sponsored trip to Italy, a highlight of which was an all-too-brief (though stiflingly hot) afternoon in Pompeii. Antiquity which outstrips Yorkshire by a couple of millennia. That's the dreaded Vesuvius looming in the distance. I was struck by learning that, eruptions aside, the Pompeiians suffered many deaths from lead poisoning from their plumbing system which, although comparatively innovative, in an ironic twist was constructed of pipes made from lead that their British slaves had been mining - in Yorkshire.
Pompeii, 2005
I returned to Italy in the winter of 2007 with the whole family, and again those under 20 strongly urged visiting Citta della Domenica, a zoo and amusement park outside Perugia, as a break from cathedrals and museums and tiny hibernating hilltowns. Billed as a rival of Disneyland, it fell several leagues short but provided an interesting afternoon. These towers are new constructions but are reminiscent of the myriad ancient campanili in Italy.

Citta della Domenica (Perugia, Tuscany) 2007

13 comments:

Wendy said...

I'm especially drawn to the photo of the woolen mill.

Bob Scotney said...

An interesting travelogue. I wonder what that person with the metal detector found on Blackpool beach; not as rewarding as Pompeii I would think.

North County Film Club said...

Oh, that photo with Vesuvius in the background. Doesn't that tell the whole story?
Aren't people afraid that it will all happen again?
Nancy

Kristin said...

We've got a bunch of those same kind of towers, although shorter, as public art in Atlanta.

Brett Payne said...

Lovely photographs, thank you Sean. Having long had a fascination with Pompeii and Vesuvius, that's my favourite, of course.

Joy said...

I like the Yorkshire connection to the Romans, from the north to the sunny south. Pompeii is a fascinating place, so much so I went twice when on holiday for a week, although only once up Vesuvius.

Little Nell said...

A nice collection of things which stand head and shoulders above the rest. The Pompeii one gets my vote too.

Postcardy said...

A nice collection of sticky-uppy things. It seems like once one starts noticing things like those, they turn up everywhere. I imagine you will be adding to the collection in the future.

Alan Burnett said...

The first two photographs are so familiar. Haworth is just up the road from here and Blackpool is about an hours' drive away. I suppose the Tower is our answer to the Washington Monument.

21 Wits said...

Yes, the Pompeii photo is very striking. As is your entire description especially from the onset. I like your phrase, sticky-uppy things as well. Excellent post.

Boobook said...

Never thought of using this for theme! Excellent idea.

Mike Brubaker said...

A good pickup on an alternate theme and nicely composed photos. I like that last one for the similarity to the WTC towers.

Teresa Wilson Rogers said...

Love the photos - I am particularly drawn to old and deserted buildings. I have an entire board devoted to them on my Pinterest account. I believe I call it "Abandoned and Deserted."

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