Skywatch Friday

 

Actually it was on Wednesday rather than Friday this week that we "almost" got a glimpse of the sky behind the grey clouds and rain that have dominated the whole week. Not having been out at all for a few days, I grabbed the opportunity for a half hour walk for exercise.

I stopped for a while across the street from the building above, trying to figure out what's going on there. Seemed like some new business is moving into the premises, and doing some changes. Actually, one of the signs outside suggested that it's an old business moving back to the area where they once started out, thirty years ago. The name didn't ring a bell with me though, so no idea what kind of business. Nor do I know if they're moving back to the exact same building or just the same complex. Or what exactly all those triangular thingies in front are for...

As I had no errands and didn't need to carry anything, I took both my walking poles on this walk for a change - mostly just for the extra exercise (for arms/shoulders). We're still having very mild weather. No risk of icy spots just now - but the risk of slipping on a mess of wet leaves is not over...

Crossing the old cemetery on my way back home. 
(Imagine a constant background sound of leaf-blowers at work...)

I'll be linking to Skywatch Friday 

Road Trip 2025 (12) - Bruzaholm

Tuesday, 12 August - Part 4
Bruzaholm

Between "Bullerbyn" and our destination for the night, Eksjö, we made a stop at an old iron works village, Bruzaholm, dating back to the 1600s. The industrial museum was not open; but we walked around for a bit outside, and I snapped some photos of the old buildings, ponds, canals and whatnot.

I think the red houses across the water is where the workers used to live. Perhaps some still do! There is still a factory producing cast iron products in the village, with around 70 employees (according to the Swedish Wikipedia article). The total population in the village nowadays is around 246 (2023), so it's still a small one!

The spelling of its name, Bruzaholm, is unusual, as you don't often see the letter "z" in Swedish. In the past, it was spelled with an s (Brusaholm). Originally the name referred to the nearby river Brusan; but the family who started the iron works were called Bruzelius, and with time, that came to influence the spelling of the name of the whole village.

Illustration for the letters X Y Z in a series of 
alphabet postcards by Swedish artist Lena Andersson

Exploring (Weekend Reflections)

Today it's been raining all day, and I've been staying in - mostly doing "nothing". That's not a complaint. Nature certainly needed a good watering; and after a hot sunny week I could do with a relaxing day of just staying in and listening to the rain as well... 

The photos below are from last weekend, when on a random walk into the city, I ended up going to "explore" a block that in the past used to be a textile industry estate, but which has recently been renovated and updated. Some years ago, the main building temporarily housed (among other things) the city library for a while (while the building where that usually resides was getting refurbished). But more recently it has been this old factory's turn to get a facelift. I think it's probably still mostly offices in the old part, but they're also building new flats in the neighbourhood, so it's going to be a more mixed area than before.

Anyway, on this Sunday it looked quiet but also accessible to closer inspection (on the outside) - so I took the opportunity.

I like how they have kept the old characteristics on the building, like this bay window, and the entrances.

 Kontor means "Office" and I suspect this was also originally the entrance to the main office of the old factory.

 That glass wing with the staircase is certainly of later date, though!

A surprise to me was that there was also a passage through to the other side of the building which I don't think was there (or open to the public) before - leading out to a wall with a mural painted a few years ago, but which I've only seen from across the river before.

Now I was able to get views from there to the other side, instead!

They really have done quite a lot over the past decade or two to make it possible to walk along the riverside in the city. (When I moved here to live 34 years ago there were very few places where the public could get close to the water.)

Seen from another point of view, back in the beginning of May.

 

Engines & Automobiles – Trollhättan (6)

After our visit to the Falls, we decided to also pay our respects to the Saab Car Museum – located at the Innovatum Science Center, on premises that back in my youth used to house another of Trollhättan’s historic heavy industries – Nohab, manufacturer of things like turbines for power plants, railway locomotives, and also aircraft and ship engines.

If we hadn’t had a car, we could have used the new cableway (400 m long, 32 m above ground) that nowadays connects this area with the tourist attractions on the other side of the canal (power plants, falls and locks).  

I was glad we did have the car, though – and not just because of the rain! Have to confess I’m not keen on dangling in a little cable cabin up in the air myself… Even if I suppose it really is a rather clever solution in a town where they can only have a minimum of bridges because of the boat traffic in the canal.

As tribute to all the locomotives once produced at Nohab, there is still one standing outside to be admired.

I’m afraid my photos from the Saab Museum are rather random. Apart from never having been very good at telling one car apart from another, I was very tired by the time we got there. I just strolled around a bit and pointed the camera at a few things that caught my eye; and then I sat down and waited for Per, who probably had a better idea of what he was looking at. He told me afterwards, for example, that some of the cars were prototypes that never actually got out on the market. Whether that includes any of those I happed to snap with my camera, I dare not say…

Linking to:
Our World Tuesday
Ruby Tuesday Too