an artificial atlas

sort of - the mythical atlas held up the sky, whereas scaffolding holds up buildings.

this particular piece of scaffolding is actually holding up - strictly speaking, holding apart - two buildings. it's been there for several years, so i guess it's not a priority site for new building, nor in any particular danger of falling down. it's pretty awesome to see, even if a little scary at the same time. i used to live a couple of streets over from the site, it's a nice part of town, lively but not crazy.

i remember being amazed (and terrified) at seeing the scaffolding around hong kong: huge bamboo poles lashed together, with little regard for uk standards of health and safety equipment. much easier to manhandle tho, and i imagine less likely to kill someone if a piece was dropped onto unwary pedestrians below. you can probly guess that i'm not a fan of walking under scaffolding poles...