I am a country boy, I love being out in nature, living surrounded by fields, and I am a huge believer in permaculture, living within our means and taking care of the planet we live on. I hate consumerism, though I can easily suffer from it, and heavy industry is a complete anathema to me.
This is where I currently live!
Pretty gorgeous no?
However, this is just down the road.
If I was to turn the camera just a smidge to the left you can see the chimneys. This is a tiny part of the huge industrial zone that sits on our doorstep. I drive through it every day. The smog it creates blocks my view of the Picos de Europa (Though that would have to be a very clear day). The road you can see at the bottom of the valley has massive heavy haulage trucks roaring along it 6 days a week. So this is not paradise, as I said, it should be anathema to me.
For some weird reason, it isn't.
Don't get me wrong, the noise of the trucks and the dirt from the factories and refineries are annoying. But I find myself weirdly enjoying moving through this landscape.
I know, it kinda blows my mind.
The only thing I have been able to deduce is that, having never lived in this sort of environment, the novelty of it seems to tickle my interest.
I mean, look at this!
It's crazy, looks like something from Mad Max, and it's right on my doorstep. I just cant help but be intrigued. There is a foundry or steel mill in a nearby town that has a plume of flame pumping out the top of it 24/7. Its so hot you can only see it at night, but its a beautiful and awful sight, all in one go. The amount of wasted heat is just staggering, but the flame picture is like nothing I have ever seen.
We won't live here for ever, maybe a year and a half, two tops. While I wish for a world where this sort of production doesn't need to exist, it's kind of interesting being around it for a short while.
Just not forever, eh?