I've started taking a bunch of pictures of Leicester, I figured I'd put together some sort of website. I borrowed some books from the library - I've found out all sorts of interesting facts! It amazes me how little people in Leicester care about their city. Maybe it's different if you've grown up here, but I chose to live here 10 years ago and I really love the place. It has such a depth of history, from the Iron Age right up to, well, now. Hopefully at some point I will actually put stuff online. I think there might be a few other people who actually care...
The only problem with taking pictures is that people think you're weird. Well, when I say that, two people I've met haven't thought that. The first person was a slightly scary man who smelt a bit of alcohol, and kissed me on the cheek when he said goodbye. I was standing there, taking a picture of the Marks and Spencer building, and he came up to me and said, "What are you looking at?" Panicking, I said, "The Marks and Spencer building!" And he then started to talk about all the old bits around the city that he liked - he said he'd give me a tour, but I turned him down. ;)
The second man was much less scary - he's the caretaker of the Silver Arcade. The Silver Arcade is a wonderful building, though most of it's now unsafe (doesn't come up to modern safety standards, anyway) so it can't be used for shops. The galleries are empty, because you can't have modern fire escapes, the electrics need redoing. It's very sad. Beautiful but sad. The caretaker had been working there for 15 years, and he was very attached to the place. He seemed happy that someone was taking time to look it - I don't think most people even realise what they're walking through. You wonder how long it'll be like that, mostly empty, gradually getting sadder and sadder. I expect it'll be redeveloped before too long.
That's the thing, you see - there are a lot of buildings that'll be changing/being demolished in Leicester, mainly due to 'regeneration'. I know you can't stop the 'march of progress', but I figured I could take some pictures before things go. Like Thomas Cook's Temperance Hotel. I will just be thankful that the 1960s/70s didn't turn out as badly as it could have. Most of their plans didn't happen - the Haymarket's just about the only thing that did.
So, I will keep taking photos and keep reading stuff, and eventually something might get online!
And if you're walking through Leicester city centre, just trying looking up.
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