I am a simple human being. I work from 8 AM to 5 PM. Every day of every week of every year. Like a damn train that never stops and the mechanical, almost mathematical, iron-tasting sound of the wheels on the railway tracks it is my soundtrack. Of course, I am talking, exclusively, about the work part. The road and the place itself.
I want to take you on a journey with me. From point A, which is my home, to point B, which is my workplace. And see the space in between.
The Road
The road, the bloody road. It is a fascination for me how the same road that I take every day can still offer me sights. Things to frame in. I've driven my wife crazy with my "Stop the car, please!" to take photographs, so I started to frame things from the moving car. And, as inconvenient that may seem, it actually paid some dividends by forcing me to swift my conventional views.
This particular picture is a composite panorama with three photos stiched togheter of the same dog, taken at one second intervals
Yeah, that's a bloody black dog in the midle of a fucking snow white field.
People are a rara avis on this road I take. Suits me, as I don't miss them in my photographs.
The workplace
Now, if you thought the road was depressing, then let me show you my workplace and its surrounding. As like many other former Romanian mammoth-factories, this particular one used to produce big ass cranes for the glory of Ceausescu, our beloved and murdered dictator. After the Revolution in '89, the majority of these mammoths were "acquired" by good hard working God-fearing Romanian thieves and plunged into bankruptcy just to steal them for a quick buck as scrap metal or to the foreign investor.
So, yea, the factory kept producing cranes at a much slower rate, until eventually, it died, being outmatched in tech by its competitors. So, now it is a ruin almost. My company acquired one of its many production facilities and develop its own metal welding business.
The factory entrance is a stark reminder of the communist's era, with the big metal signs, font and deadpan architecture.
A beautiful Monday morning, wouldn't you agree?
Decay and rust is all-over the place. But, again, it suits me, as I love decay and rust! :)
Oh, yes, we have sunny days too. Makes a difference?
Let's stop here for a bit of Intermezzo to talk about the workers. They are from the satellite villages that surrounds the city in which this factory is located. I don't know how to put it other than bluntly: they are poor as fuck. The daily commute is done with bicycles for a lot of them. No money for train or buses. The bikes are...scrap. Things that you wouldn't take even if they were free. And this is an ALL-WEATHER form of commuting. Torrid sun or dead cold winter. I just want to show you their bikes. And this will be my social statement related to this poor bastards. Which I deeply respect, if you get past the appearances.
I bet you can't beat this. But if you are brave enough, try posting in the comments a picture of your workplace, or surroundings. Maybe will give you another perspective about the place. Maybe, indeed, the abyss is only in our minds, like in the photograph below which I took on the hallways of our offices.