What On Hearth?

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ My Little Parisian Life ~

My Little Parisian Life, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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Now here's one. I read a blog posting recently about someone being utterly obsessed by chimneys. After that it was Paris draincovers, or perhaps all draincovers for all I know, but that's not my case; I'm only obsessed with Parisian ones. And finally, someone (sorry people, I can't remember where I find all this stuff) devoted pages and (scrolling) pages to the traces of... oops, almost gave it away there, didn't I?

Because I was going to say: what on earth is going on in this picture. Just what are those strange black tentacles creeping down this dilapidated wall like so many disease-ridden tentacles of some giant squid or octopus...

So, what on earth..?

Chimney's on earth. Or rather flues. I reckon this is the trace of a whole bunch of families' heating systems, soot and cinders clinging on long after the attached building has passed on to a higher estate of housing.

You see the traces of chimneys very often in Paris, but more commonly simply the different types of brick used on the external wall which stand up to the heat better. This is more rare, but still not uncommon, as entire apartment blocks are demolished and replaced, usually with something far more modern and not always pleasant.

My favourite is when you can see what used to be adjoining walls of the old rooms with out the internal partitians, like a patchwork quilt, with different wallpaper for bedrooms, kitchens and so on. It's funny to imagine all the people who must have lain in their beds or cooked their roasts looking at that very same wallpaper, half-way up the wall, floating in mid-air, without a care in the world, a real wood fire blazing away in the hearth.

They're gone and their memories have gone up in smoke. Perhaps their lives have too. So many Parisian lives. Reminds me I should be making the most of my own one, my little Parisian life. Have a truly crackling day, folks!

P.S. Who came first: Emperors or Kings.. ;~S

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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