These shops were a neighborhood fixture, but everything has its time, and theirs was up. New developers planning a clean new shopping centre had decided to buy out all the small operators that made this warren of mostly old converted houses to erect the future.
I walked past these every night walking the dogs as they slowly one by one boarded up and closed their shutters for the last time. Months past and everything stayed the same, closed and secure.
Later, some undesirables from down the rail line decided to stop in on our quiet neighborhood and generally tear shit up and go buck wild. The result was a lot of smashed shop windows and graffiti to and fro.
Generally not cool, but then again, no one bothered to tidy up? So doors stood ajar, windows looked a gaping and the whole place generally sang out to be peaked into.
So off I went 2 boarder collies in tow, to have a nosy at the premises.
I must say, having a two dogs on leash, a tripod a camera and a torch in hand, lighting made for a less than ideal snapping session. Then again, the doggies could defend me from the meth head zombies within, so always welcome.
The place was pretty spooky, in the dark and I made well sure there wasn't anyone moving round in there before we all went in. But it still felt a little like a computer game, clearing rooms, waiting for zombies to pounce.
There was some delightful disposed of newspaper in what used to be a bathroom and was now a toilet.
I ended up coming and going in here a few times, three at night with the dogs and once in the afternoon, it wasn't the most interesting of places, but oh so convenient.
It's all gone now, replaced by mounds upon mounds of freshly churned earth, awaiting men and machines to start laying foundations for something new and something untainted by graffiti and soiled newspapers.
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