136/365: Chestnuts

136/365: Chestnuts, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 16th

Gdańska street, Łódź.

33/365:Green leaf

33/365:Green leaf, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

February 2nd

Someone decided that the iron-wrought fence around the Music Academy deserved a bit of colour. It counts as graffiti, I guess, vandalism...and that particular building is actually being kept in good shape, unlike the many others in the neighbourhood. So, I'm in two minds. I don't like when people spray over historic sites- but what an adorable idea, to have the leaves on the fence turn green in the middle of winter. :)

336/365: Even a bottle of rectified spirit...

336/365: Even a bottle of rectified spirit..., originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

December 2nd

...cannot substitute for Jesus.

Says the graffiti. Above, of course, the ŁKS football club brand. It's that neighbourhood.

304/365: Fashion Week

304/365: Fashion Week, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 31

Sponsored by ŁKS football club. ;) Ah, those fans with their spraycans...

Here's another sign of their presence, the ŁKS flag:

After changes upon changes, it's all more or less the same.

I remain a fan of Lodz. I arrived here in 2002 as a student, I stayed expecting steady employment (which, for various reasons, turned out to be a very silly expectation). I've seen this city change a lot in the last six years- I just wish I'd taken some photos in the first three, because some of the changes are stupendous.

Take this building:



I am not certain of the story save that it was a tangled one- an attempt to demolish it turned into a reconstruction which took over a year. Today, in drearier weather, I took a photo of the result:



Yes, those are fake windows, and an extra floor. Not bad for a building that was supposed to be demolished, no?

Things do change in Lodz, although sometimes they stagnate for a very long time. I don't have any photos of this building when it was not yet condemned and held a pharmacy and fur cleaner, but at some point it was boarded up. A year or two later came the veil:



It only covered the Southern side- the Western facade remained optimistic:



The veil was supposedly put up to keep fragments of brick and plaster from falling down on people's heads, but it gave the impression of a misty spell, or a Christo installation:



But clearly the building was sick of waiting for the death sentence that never came. Slowly, as buildings will, it freed itself from its shroud.



:)