Old and New: the step over to 2020

I wanted this first post of the new year to be largely a picture post, but I'll need to explain the first group of photos, so I hope you'll bear with me.

Firstly, happy 2020 everyone. I know it's off to a difficult start in some parts of the world, notably the tragic fires in Australia (so devastatingly awful) and the precarious situation with the US vs Iran (I'm trying not to think where that's going), but I hope that wherever you are, things are calm, safe and optimistic.

Anyway, to get back to the photos, on the 29th December, we decided to go for a walk at a place called Klein Rusland  over the border in Belgium. We've often walked around the neighbourhood before as it's always fascinated us. Initiated by the Russian founder of a nearby factory (Dmitri Peniakoff) it was built as a community for workers and its first inhabitant was also a Russian (hence the name Klein Rusland). The whole estate was designed along cubist lines by Huib Hoste and it was very much a garden suburb. 

To my mind, it should be a monument, but sadly, many of the houses are now boarded up and all the shops and businesses have gone. Why? Because (according to a local resident) an industrial magnate wants the land to extend his already huge solar panel 'farm,' which is on a site next to Klein Rusland. He must be a very patient man as many of the residents are clearly not willing to go: 'we willen blijven' (we want to stay) is a sign seen on many doorways. 

We willen blijven - we want to stay

I have to admit I have issues with situations in which people and communities are driven out of their neighbourhoods in the name of progress. I feel the same way about big dams and reservoirs where complete villages are drowned. Some may see it as a sacrifice to the greater good; however, I can't help thinking of the human sacrifice too, not in lives, but in communities that have been there for so long. Klein Rusland will be 100 years old this year. Here's an article about what has been happening there. If you open it in Google, you can have it translated.

A garden suburb with a beautiful tree-planted green in its centre

Cubist homes: very modern in their day.

Many of the boarded up houses have really attractive paintings on them, which brightens up the desolation no end – a great way to prevent random graffiti too. Here are a few of my snaps. It was a beautiful day, which somehow made the silent emptiness more poignant.

 

After chatting to the local man who told us about the solar panels and also the centenary, we headed to another neighbourhood close by for a cup of coffee. I was struck by these opening times on the bakery door. It seems they really do open at 04:00 in the morning. Amazing!

Then on New Year's Day, we did our traditional beach walk. It was bitterly cold, but we refused to be daunted. These photos show that others weren't either!

Although this beach was a bit empty. I can imagine it's very busy in
the summer

Then yesterday was another beautiful day so as we had a doggy guest (my daughter's spaniel, Charlie), we took a long walk around a nearby nature reserve. It always amazes me that in this densely populated little country we can walk for kilometres without seeing another soul. I love the calm tranquillity of these Dutch reed lined waters with their knotted willow trees.

So that's it for my ramblings this week. Here's a photo of Charlie to finish up with. He can snooze very thoroughly after a long walk.

By the way, if you are here, you will either have clicked on a link or you'll have seen that I've changed my blog address. I was getting so many spam comments and rubbish to filter out, I decided the new year was time for a clean slate. If you'd still like to follow me, you might want to change any saved links you have to my blog. The new blog address is rivergirlrotterdam.blogspot.com

Have a good week allemaal, and may all the fires in the world, both literal and figurative, be extinguished soon.