I am introducing a post for your photographs with the theme - Seen Better Days

Old hall we used to use for dancing prior to Covid ….its close to where we live…but now abandoned

I only took this last week as we went to hand the keys into the managers of the hall and pick up a few things like a microwave

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Bretrick said:
Looks to be 1950s?
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It was built in 1947 @Bretrick ..it has a limestone built church ( abandoned) next to it ( the Hall is wood and iron ) because it was built by farmers with what they could find in the way of building materials after the war …

It’s in the middle of nowhere on farming land …20 km from the nearest town

Its go a Jarrah floor ..I’ve got a inside the hall photo somewhere as well
 
Hers another …..well past its use by date photos of a railway track at a town in NSW we travel through on our way to Queensland each winter @Bretrick

Its called Narrandera NSW ..it would be interesting knowing the history / age if this structure , I might call into a tourist office ( if they have one ) and ask a bit of history of it ..or maybe look it up online …it would have been might hard work put into building a structure that would take the weight off a train
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Kadee said:
Hers another …..well past its use by date photos of a railway track at a town in NSW we travel through on our way to Queensland each winter @Bretrick

Its called Narrandera NSW ..it would be interesting knowing the history / age if this structure , I might call into a tourist office ( if they have one ) and ask a bit of history of it ..or maybe look it up online …it would have been might hard work put into building a structure that would take the weight off a train
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Thank you for posting this.
Most likely those timbers were cut manually. At least fed into a cutter using a lot of manual labour.
 
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horseless carriage said:
Cuba is one of the few countries in the world where most private automobiles are older than their owners. The vintage classics range from Oldsmobiles to Chevys and Plymouths to Fords. But better, these vehicles aren’t shiny and new-looking, instead, they have the beat-up look of a book that has been read over and over again, showing that not only are these vehicles loved, but they are actually used in day-to-day life.
The 1959 Cuban Revolution and subsequent US import embargo was erected. Castro banned the importation of American cars and mechanical parts. The only buyer in the country was the government, which for decades purchased its new fleets primarily from the Soviet Union, distributing them as a reward to select workers.
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As a Canadian, I was allowed to travel to Cuba in 2007. Actually, when we were there we travelled widely and saw very many quite well-kept, shiny American cars of the mid to late 1950s. Keeping them looking good seems to be an important hobby of their owners. There seemed to be a pride of ownership and care must have been lavished on them. Of course, engines or their parts can and do wear out, but some of the shiny cars were retrofitted with Russian-made tractor engines... something that would also become dated, but is probably fairly durable.

It was clear that there are some highly-skilled Cubans. Five of us Canadians got a ride in a shiny (black) well-maintained four door American coupe, roughly 1946-49 vintage, serving as a taxi. Although we enjoyed Cubans and things about Cuba, none of us was convinced as to the virtues of dictatorship or communism.:rolleyes:
 
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JBR said:
It was clear that there are some highly-skilled Cubans. Five of us Canadians got a ride in a shiny (black) well-maintained four door American coupe, roughly 1946-49 vintage, serving as a taxi. Although we enjoyed Cubans and things about Cuba, none of us was convinced as to the virtues of dictatorship or communism.:rolleyes:
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What you were seeing were the effects of crippling economic trade embargoes. Cuba might have thrived under communism had they not been so severely handicapped. We'll never know.
 
HermitHogan said:
What you were seeing were the effects of crippling economic trade embargoes. Cuba might have thrived under communism had they not been so severely handicapped. We'll never know.
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I get your point. But what I was referring to was how the police on the streets in Havana surveilled and selectively curtailed conversation with foreign visitors (like ourselves). That was even stricter on the public beaches. This did not occur when we travelled to small towns/villages near Havana, nor in outlying regions.

I freely admit that this was something that made us uncomfortable, due to the fact that we visitors from Canada and western & eastern Europe were not used to, due to our personal freedom back home.
 
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JBR said:
I get your point. But what I was referring to was how the police on the streets in Havana surveilled and selectively curtailed conversation with foreign visitors (like ourselves). That was even stricter on the public beaches. This did not occur when we travelled to small towns/villages near Havana, nor in outlying regions.

I freely admit that this was something that made us uncomfortable, due to the fact that we visitors from Canada and western & eastern Europe were not used to, due to our personal freedom back home.
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Yeah, that would be a bit unsettling. What you described sounds like a "police state," but that's a symptom of the dictatorship — not communism itself.

What made you decide to go to Cuba? That's not a place I've ever considered traveling to.
 
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