5 - Distorted

Theme 348.

I went into the city today, aiming to take some photos (and pick up a new copy of the Highway Code and a provisional licence application form, part of one of my BFS goals for this year (Big, Fun, Scary)). One of the ideas I had was to use this ruined building for the "ruined" theme. In the end, the gloomy weather worked against me and I only got a few shots, which I might redo in better weather.

It's just off the High Street, and next to the building where my Dad used to work. They used to be just left as they were, but recently got a few additions - these glass "arch" things. I'd wondered what these glass "arches" were, dotted around the grounds, but never investigated. I'd thought they were an attempt to - well, yuppify them a bit, make them somehow more modern. Today I walked around, trying to find angles and views, and found this plaque at the back, explaining it. It was originally an Almshouse, or part of it. The photo below isn't part of Project 366, but explains the glass bottle in the glass arch.

It's got a semi self portrait too, of me reflected in the glass, and the brown brick behind it is part of the almshouse.

For the record, the glass arches represent the original arched doorways inside the almshouse, and are in the exact same places as the original doors. A local artist inserted artifacts found on site, everything from pottery shards to this bottle (a 1942 beer bottle warped by the heat of Blitz debris, in WW2), to a modern day Cola can. See the middle section for details (top and bottom).