About The Lode Desmet Blog
On what must have been the coldest night of that January I travelled by train from Belgrade to Sofia. I wrote my name in the ice on the windows. I shivered under a thin blanket. Snow was leaking from the ceiling of the toilet. But I arrived. And then I got lost ...
To Be Continued ...
June 08, 2008 • Comments Bulgaria
Yesterday a hole appeared in our street. In the pockmarked Bulgarian capital Sofia that’s not such an exceptional feat. But this one dug itself in the asphalt right in front of our entrance gate. And that’s less common !
I mean : if there’s a whole long street available, why would that hole choose to take residence on your very doorstep ? Maybe to push me to write this story !
It’s more than a hole by the way. It’s close to a crater. Size : an ankle deep square meter at least. You can check it out on the picture above.
Shortly after dark not even two weeks ago I blew two tyres on a not so small road in Northern Bulgaria thanks to another hole.
One hole – two tyres.
I guess that speaks for itself.
The next day – after a crusade to find two new tyres in the somnambular city of Lom – I went back to have a good nasty look at the thing that had caused all this damage and ruined my Saturday.
And guess what I found out ? That road was riddled with cracks and pits !
It was a wonder that I hadn’t blown a tire any earlier.
A week later – driving back into Sofia from a trip to Greece – I tried to count the number of holes that make drivers swivel and swerve and step on their brakes on the last narrow stretch of road that leads into the capital. But I lost count. There were too many.
It’s a disgrace !!
It costs a lot of money and planning to build new roads – I assume. But in the meantime it surely can’t cost so much to keep a number of teams on stand-by to go and patch up holes whenever and as soon as they appear – no ?
A thunderstorm the like of which I’ve rarely seen unleashed torrents of rain over Sofia yesterday. I was having coffee under a tent and got drenched when the canvas above our heads gave way. That thunderstorm caused the hole in front of our gate. And now we’ll be waiting. When and how is it going to be repaired ?
Soon – I hope. But my hopes are not high.
Meanwhile I’ll have to live with the sound of cars braking – to slow down in front of the hole and take it at centimetre pace – then pulling up again. Their drivers quite annoyed and therefore stepping firmly on the gas pedal ! Iiiiip ! Vroaoaoam !
I wish holes could be carried – like junk to a junk yard. Like the broken washing machine that you can also see on the picture above. It had been standing in my way in the cellar for ages so yesterday afternoon I dragged it out and left it next to our gate.
Not the best example of civilised behaviour – I hear you mutter. If everybody left junk like that on his doorstep …
Well : half an hour after I took the washing machine out and two minutes after I’d photographed it together with the hole … the machine was gone ! Recycled for scrap money by the city’s poorest who roam the streets to do just that : make money out of our leftovers.
If only they could carry away and recycle the holes … they would be rich and maybe less hated – although that remains to be seen. I would certainly be very happy !
To be continued !
Until grass and weeds grow in the hole – I bet.
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Lode Desmet
A passionate photographer, Lode Desmet is a Belgian documentary film director, based in Bulgaria.
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