Skywatch Friday

Still very unreliable weather here. It may seem hard to believe from the photos below, but today it's been raining most of the day, with dark clouds and torrential rain showers swiftly coming and going. 

I managed to sneak out for a while during a break between showers, though.

I walked past these buildings (about 10 min from home) which are currently being renovated: New insulation added, and new facade cladding on top. I'm pleased to see that they have restored the finished buildings to pretty much the same colour as before - I was worried for a while that they were changing them to yellow... (That turned out just to be the colour of the insulation, though - soon hidden again)

 

This is the last building they're working on now.

I went round the back of the finished ones today and noted that they've got new balconies as well, looking all neat and clean. Must have been very tiresome to live there while it was all going on... but hopefully the result feels worth it once it's all over with.

Down by the river, nearby - other apartment buildings of similar colour on the other side.

Linking to Skywatch Friday

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.