New paintings and regular art updates.
Slimy algae
On the lock wall
Only revealed
As the water flows
Out of the lock
Through large wooden gates
Made to be moved
When you use a windlass
To raise the sluice gate.
A way of travelling
Up and down hill
In a boat or a barge
Through summer fields.
An old ruin made of pinkish grey stone. The window has a white windowledge stained with green algae caused by the wet atmosphere in the area. The window is boarded with some sort of chipboard. The lower section is sodden with damp from successive rainstorms. It must be screwed into the window frame because it is sunken into the window surround, not flush with it. A bracket of metal, almost the shape of the number ‘2’ is on one side of the window, and a thin line of stonework shaped almost like an eyebrow sits in the stone course above the boarded window. This is on the first floor of the building so it would not be easily accessible from the ground. The light on the building is grey, reflecting what the sky would look like if it was visible in the photo.
I was trying to write this in a simple descriptive way. It’s harder than I thought to be accurate!
Several years ago I worked in housing. In that job I was responsible for looking after abandoned properties among other things.
One day I had to go out and inspect a house. It was full of belongings which was very difficult to get through because furniture was strewn everywhere. So I did an inventory and arranged for it to be cleared. I took photos, and when I reviewed them I saw a very green fishtank. The property had apparently been empty for two months before we were notified it was empty, but something prompted me to contact the team who were due to clear the house and asked them to look for it.
It turned out there was a goldfish in the tank! Not visible because of the algae in there. Luckily it had been eating the algae. It was rehomed to a garden fishpond.
It looks like pea soup. The green in this pond is caused by algae I think. This is also in the local lakes. Some of them have pumps that are being used to try and get some oxygen into the water. Days are cooler and greyer, so I hope the water will clear.
This photo was taken yesterday at the Dorothy Clive Garden out in the countryside. Still looking good and it’s almost the end of August.
Mallaband-Brown