iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ The Perfect Grime ~ |
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Luckily, not all metro stations are created, or maintained equal, bright and shiny, tip-top, spic-and-span, ship-shape, Bristol fashion. Think how boring that would be.
Jaurès is in a pleasing mess at the moment. Tiles dropping, water dripping, posters not even bothering to stay attached to the walls amongst the smudged graffiti, drinks machines simply giving up the ghost; lovely!
There always seem to be at least one or two platforms in a very permanent looking period of temporary renovation, in anticipation of 'our brand new station', as the posters tell us. The ones that haven't yet peeled off the profusely perspiring porcelain.
And funnily enough, the majority of these soon-to-be-unshitty stations (allegedly), seem to live on line 2.
Hey, wasn't there a train driver who's driven back and forth along line 2 for twenty years and brought out a book about it a year ago or so? Hmm, maybe he'll know what the story is. Watch this space, and shout if you see any signs of slippage.
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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.
4 comments:
Very sad state of non-repair here... There are one or two stations in my regular (visitor) travels on the Métro that are pungent to say the least. It will be interesting to see if/when this station is cleaned up and/or renovated.
Genie
Hi Genie! Actually, as I hint in the piece, the grotty ones are actually much better for photography! And as someone else pointed out, this is actually line 7bis and not line 2, which is overground! So much for accuracy, what do I score for enthusiasm..?
Spot on for photography, love the grittyness of it. A touch of urban decay, perfect! I'm not familiar with either line.
Then again, we were but mere camera toting tourists for 10 days. Lines 8 and 1 come to memory. I fell in love on the metro with that haunting beautiful voice that spoke to me over the loud speaker, "Tuileries".
Hauntingly beautiful? The station announcer? Hmm.
I once heard a programme with the woman who has been recording those things for many years. It was intriguing. People were asked to listen to her speaking voice (not announcing platforms or problems!) and place it. Everyone had this incredible feeling of familiarity but couldn't for the life of them say where they'd heard it before. Weird.
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