Linear view vs. Masonry View

Tag Archive for ‘Writing’

Sote canal

Sote canal

The man made canal, in Swedish Sotekanalen, has been dug and blasted through the rock as a relief work for unemployed stonemason workers. The idea to build a canal came up already in the late 1800 to create a safer passage over the dangerous waters in the Sotefjord. The decision was made 1913 but the work didn’t start until 1931. It was inaugurated in 1935 by the Swedish Crown Prince Gustav Adolf. This made the peninsula Ramsvikslandet to an island but it’s now connected to the mainland with a swing bridge.

The canal is 4800 meters long, 4,5 meters deep and 15 meters wide. Today it’s not used for commercial traffic but each year over 50 000 recreation boats passes this beautiful waterway.

No man is an island, ha de Gött!

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Water water water

Water water water

Like the Easter Bunny I was roaming the land. Don’t think we look for the same things but as I went through my pictures I realised that water is my favourite model.

I remember as a young boy, me and my friends spend our time by the creek. Like beavers we built dams, just to tear them down to see the fast flowing water fearlessly, like there’s no tomorrow, rush to the lake. One time we built a dam so large that people got their basements flooded, prescribed now I hope.

I can sit for hours watching the water flowing by. The soothing sound and the ever changing dance of the water. Most see the water flowing at a steady rate but if you sit down to watch you see it pulsing. Just like a mothers heartbeats.

Don’t take water for granted, ha de Gött!

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Swing bridge

Swing bridge

Stora Bommens bro in Göteborg, Sweden. In English The Large Gate Bridge. The bridge is used as bike and walk bridge over the Harbour Channel but was built as a train bridge. The name comes from the toll gate that was here in the past. The gate protected the channel from invading enemies but also ensured that the mooring fees and toll could be collected.

It was replaced with a replica, where the steel parts has been kept, in 2015 and cannot be opened. The old bridge was a swing bridge, swinging open around its centre leaving two lanes for boats to pass. The old bridge was very low and slowly sinking, making it more and more difficult to pass under during high tide. It was therefore called the cheese slicer bridge by the sightseeing tour boats. The possibility to open was disabled during a renovation in 1929. I haven’t been able to find out why, but a guy-guess is that the harbour was moved out to the river bank as the boats became bigger.

The white building in the background is the the court of appeal for West Sweden.

Hold your head down, ha de Gött!

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The America Shed

The America Shed

For many Swedes this quay with the white building behind was the last steps on Swedish soil as they emigrated to America. The building is named Amerikaskjulet, the Amerika Shed. It was built in 1910 to 1911 as a warehouse for the Port of Göteborg. The docking place with number 36 was the first quay with enough depth for the Svenska Amerika Liniens steamboats. As the name suggest the shipping company established in 1915 was dedicated to traffic between Göteborg and New York, USA. The company was closed in 1975 after a, in many cases, dramatic history.

To name this quite large building a shed, must be a proof of the very special humour in Göteborg. It was the first building in the area built of granite stone and concrete. Quite different to the other wooden sheds along the quay. Behind it one of Göteborg’s most famous landmarks, the Seafarers Tower with the statue of a sailors wife looking out to the west praying for husband and sons safe return from the sea. A reminder of the importance of the city as a port that it still holds today as the largest in Sweden.

Sail safe, ha de Gött!

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