2009-06-30

Beacon of neglect

This post used to have white opaque panels on the top and beamed the message to the people that here was a place to shop. It had a clock on one face, if I recall correctly, which stood still for years. Now even that is gone. Only loose wires and rust remain to remind us of someone's faded commercial plans.

2009-06-29

Simca in the rain

A French-registered, French-made car sitting on the rainy streets of Saarbrücken. It would appear to be a Simca P60 Aronde, a model that was manufactured in the period 1959-1964. Still waterproof after over 40 years?

2009-06-28

Crazy amusements

The Schwarzenberg pool is not just for swimming. It offers frisbee throwing, beach volley ball, football and that eternal classic — crazy golf. The painted concrete of the golf course provided so many coloured shapes and angles, I had to take some photos.

2009-06-27

Steel and water symmetry

Coming from the more temperate climes of northern England, I notice how popular such open air pools are in Germany. This particular one is, unfortunately, under constant threat. It is surrounded by some of the most expensive houses in Saarbrücken and it cannot be long before the property developer vultures move in.

2009-06-26

Pirates in the waves

Public open air swimming pools are extremely popular in the Summer in Germany. The Schwarzenbergbad, the main open air pool in Saarbrücken, has just had a wall painted with a colourful mural. I assume that an an artist was contracted to paint it, but judging by the Graffiti Mile down by the Saar, I think there are plenty of good artists that would do it just for fun.

2009-06-25

Miner in the setting sun

The statue was erected in 1956 to commemorate a hundred years of mining at the Saint Charles pits in Petite Rosselle. They can add another half a century to that now.

2009-06-24

Pithead in blue

The other shots of pitheads in this blog have been of closed pits and that is pretty typical on both the French and German sides of the border. But the wheel of the pithead frame in the photo was turning as I took this shot. In Petite Rosselle, men are still risking their lungs and their lives to maintain our energy hungry civilisation.

2009-06-23

Roundabout à la française

Following the well-signposted cycle route from the Saar to Petite Rosselle, I travelled through kilometres of woods then came to a mining village. Am I in France or Germany? The border is no more, so there are no checkpoints to cross. Within seconds you can tell which country it is. Everything is the same but slightly different. The colours of the houses are different, the use of French balconies, the way they cut their trees — and the use of roundabouts.

2009-06-22

Wind-blown poppy in a cornfield

This particular item of wind-blown flora is on the Franco-German border near where the extraterrestrials land.

2009-06-21

Unidentified fairground object

In my photographic odyssey, I have already discovered two alien life forms. In the middle of the Warndt forest straddling the Franco-German border, I found a clearing where one of their space ships seems to have landed.