Wednesday, November 01, 2023

Ex-Cell-O prepares to say goodbye

The clock ticks faster
London, ON
October 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram


This scene will be gone before long, as the derelict building inside the perimeter of this fence will soon be demolished.

So it feels somewhat appropriate to quietly wander around the surrounding streets and peer in here and there. None of this is earth-shattering, but it is a snapshot in time, a grittily poignant reflection of what used to be here, and where it ended up before someone decided to make the long-overdue decision to end one chapter and begin another.

As I slowly walk beside the fence, I can’t help but notice how the vine wraps tightly around the rusted steel and barbed wire, as if Mother Nature is serving notice that she will always prevail over whatever we choose to build.

Indeed, not far from here, wild growth has already begun to burst through crumbling mortar and brick, and if left to its own devices for a long enough time, will manage to level what the giant machines will take care of in just a few short days.

Time. It seems to move at different rates.

For decades, it almost stood still as this once-vibrant structure slowly, quietly, degraded into the ruinporn hulk it is today.

Then the decision was made to end it for good and give the space back to the surrounding neighborhood. And suddenly the clock began to tick more quickly.

This city is filled with countless buildings just like this, victims of a demolition-by-neglect culture that our civic leaders seem both unwilling and unable to resolve.

So we gently record what it looks and feels like in the hope that future generations won’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

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City held hostage, December 2020

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