Sunday 1 April 2012

Time to Tear Down, Time to Build

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“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
… a time to tear down and a time to build…
… a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them…
… a time to keep and a time to throw away…”
(from Ecclesiastes Ch. 3)

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There is a lot of tearing down and building going on in my neighbourhood this spring. (See also the Friday My Town post at my other blog.)

Instead of the old factory building (3rd photo) there will be new apartment buildings. All part of a strategy to create more housing in or near the town centre.

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Four years ago I was looking for a new (although not brand new) flat myself and had narrowed my search down to two streets or areas. At the end of April, 2008, I got the lease contract on the flat where I now live, which is about 1 km from the sites where all the tearing down and building is now going on.

The other alternative I had in mind (although there were no actual openings there while I was looking) would have been closer to where all the action is now. I’m glad I ended up where I did.

When they’ve finished the new buildings down by the river, I might be able to just see the top of one of them from one of my windows (I think I read one is going to be 12 storeys high) but otherwise my view is likely to remain unchanged. (Well – for a while anyway…) And while they’re working on it, the noise is too far away to be bothering us here.

The housing estate where I live was built in the 1940s but in good repair. I do live among a number look-alike buildings, but they are only 3 storeys high, each no more than three entrances wide, and with lawns and trees etc in between; and I don’t have to walk far to see other kinds of buildings. 

From one of my windows I see taller buildings but they are some distance away. In the summer I hardly see them at all because there is too much greenery in the way. Between “here” and “there”, there are trees, a football field, a railway, a street and on the other side of the street an old cemetery with more trees. And between those taller buildings runs the river.

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Foggy November morning sunrise.
(In fog the far-away buildings disappear, too!)

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End of March fiery sunset (from the balcony).

Linking to SOOC Sunday and Weekend Reflections.

6 comments:

  1. i don't think you could have found a better place than what you have, the view from your balcony is marvelous. that sunset is spectacular. you are walking distance to wonderful places and buildings and i so enjoy your photos. your photography makes even the de-construction of the buildings beautiful.

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  2. Funny how things turn out well. I call it the providential care of a Heavenly Father. He knows the end from the beginning.

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  3. I agree with the principal of getting more housing back into town centres but definitely not with 12-storey apartments in small towns. Perhaps that's a UK dislike because all the 1960s multi-storey flats that haven't already been demolished years ago are gradually getting pulled down. People never liked living in them. Personally I would rather live in a garden shed than in one.

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    1. I'm not happy about the 12-storey building. Out of three of that height or higher discussed/planned in our town though, I think this one is likely to cause the least objection, since there is already a 10-storey building and several 7-or-so in that neighbourhood. (What I really hope they won't go through with is a suggestion to add several more storeys on top of an existing building right in the town centre.)

      I think there is a certain difference in British vs Swedish 'traditional' housing, but we too have a lot of boring suburban areas from the 60s which few people prefer if they can find an affordable alternative.

      Doubt the new ones being built now being affordable to most though. The rent for those built across the road from the supermarket will be about 150% compared to where I live. (Cheaper for me to stay where I am and take a taxi home with my groceries...)

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  4. Your quotation from Ecclesiastes has to be one of my favourite Biblical quotations. It's one of those that reminds me what a great piece of literature the Bible is whatever views a person holds on it's content.

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  5. I love the foggy November morning!!! And the wonderful reflections in the first picture. It seems that you live in just the perfect location!!!

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