Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991. One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...
When I did the top sketch on Monday, demolition work had already begun, so the old girls were looking a bit forlorn with the windows and doors removed from their sockets, giving them a decidedly vacant stare.
Some of you will remember the
two buildings as the Ashiana Indian Restaurant back in the 80’s. At some
stage the two identical buildings were joined at the ground level
allowing for one grand dinning room. In my memory the buildings have
always made an exotic statement painted as they were in vibrant colour
combinations.
I returned a few days later to get the sketch below, but I’d already
missed the real action – I understand they both came down in just an
hour or so. Wether you like the idea of losing heritage buildings to
intensified housing or not you have to admit seeing demolition in action
makes a very compelling sight.
Thanks to Jeanne for the heads-up that demolition has started.
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