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Sven April 29th, 2010

Nobody’s been through these doors in a long time, if the spiderwebs are anything to go by.

I’d driven past this place dozens of times in the past, but never stopped.  It sits by the side of a highway, a fair way from civilisation, and in the years I’ve been passing it nothing seems to really change.  It’s not quite abandoned – semi-trailers often use the hardstand and shelter, but the main building itself seems surplus to requirements now.  Permanently lit with a garish yellow-green fluorescent light, it serves as a beacon for every kind of flying insect.

From any distance, the building looks fairly clean, but it really is not.  Masses of tight, dense spiderweb line every nook and cranny.  Through brick grouting, along door and window frames, everywhere.  And, being in a fairly dry environment, dust has blown in, and turned these webs to grimy sprawling tendrils, as though someone’s inked outlines on everything in a shaky hand.

Who knows, though, perhaps this place might one day see refurbishment, if fortunes should change.  It wouldn’t be the first seemingly-derelict service station to spring back to life.

In the spirit of stopping at long-neglected spots of interest, I also trapsed through a field to an old tractor I’d meant to investigate for years now.  This one’s definitely too far gone for salvation.  I do wonder how old it is, and how long it’s sat there in the grass.

No, I didn’t sit on it.

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