today's walk started on a trail from our town, along the fjord north toward the city of Larvik, 7 kms away. but this path does not always hug the coastline. one of several reasons for that is that there is an old industrial area along the way which the path avoids.
but today's walk deviates off the path into that industrial area.
for many decades the industry was centered around production of particle board and various related building supplies. but quite a few years ago that company was bought up and closed down. some of the buildings that were left empty are just now being modernized but i am not going there.
i am exploring around the buildings that were overtaken by various small scale industrial firms and a couple that are rented out to the general public as storage space .
the place was unquestionably a mess but somehow the clean white snow cover disguised much of that and made the colors stand out. i had expected dull bricks, gray cement, faded paint, broken glass and more or less rusted metal but certainly not these bright vibrant splashes
they somehow seemed to make the atmosphere surprisingly cheerful and energetic,
quite contrary to what the actual objects were and how they were placed. things that were obviously in more or ess regular use were strewed about as though they were junk.
i found myself wondering if the effect was intentional. could it possibly be a full scale piece of living modern art?
no. i dismissed the notion. it's just a odd coincidence. in any case it put me in an even better mood than walking among the serene muted natural hues along seaside on the way here. the colors are industry standards, coded, bright and different to make things easily identifiable or to distinguish similar objects from each other.
and some things needed to be highly visible
for safety reasons
these are warning signs, so of course they need to be visible.
but i knew it wasn't just that. there was something more, clearly this was not all planned.
but neither was it random. and yes it was falling apart but slowly
rusting, not well kept
but it wasn't all going down the sluk- (that's norwegian for drain).
not for a while yet anyway. there are still some years to go
i felt strangely at home here. there was something honest and not the least bit apologetic going on.
this door was no more dented or rusty than my old VW transit
i drove for years before i retired. i still have that old clunker even after all the beating it took but it still keeps on going so i hang on to it. i even accidently filled some gas/petrol in the diesel tank last winter. suddenly, around the corner just in front of me was an another one, the same model as mine parked there. same bluegreen color even but no license plates on this one. hey maybe i should come back during working hours and ask around for some parts. i could use a new side mirror. just the other day i was driving along and when i hit a speed bump the glass fell out of the mirror attachment and smashed on the asfalt. i never even knew that was possible.
anyway, there is something about this place. i might just keep an eye on it