Tuesday 1 May 2012

Self-confessed 'luddite'

"Paspaley Pearls' on the corner of Martin Place and George Street

It is not that I am against progress, I just prefer to live in the past. Brushed aluminium, Scandinavian ashe, and etched glass are all well and good, but give me granite and sandstone any old day.

According to Wiki, the Luddites were a social movement of 19th-century English textile artisans who protested against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, that replaced them with less skilled, low wage labour, and which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life.

Frequently, mechanised looms were destroyed in a quaint process referred to as "collective bargaining by riot".

In modern usage, a 'Luddite' is one overwhelmed by the new, by the modern, by the ever-changing, who seeks refuge in the tried and true, who reveres the test of time, who dwells in that fascinating land known as the past, or even, the 'passed'.

The short facade of the QVB facing Market Street

8 comments:

Cloudia said...

How delightful of YOU
to visit my blog
so that I might
discover YOU!

I too love the older city, and your evident personae...

I'm joining you as of now, and do think i should visit Oahu Cemetery soon for a post. Thanks for the reminder.



Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral

> < } } (°>

Unknown said...

The doors and windows have such lovely filigreeing. I may be a Luddite about some things. I hate to see interesting buildings torn down and replaced by something modern and antiseptic, or worse yet a parking lot. Yet we can't save all the old stuff or we will drown in the clutter.

Joe said...

Such dramatic architecture. This building was made too last.

Jim said...

Beauties, both.

brattcat said...

you might feel at times like you are alone but there are many "luddites" out there.

Melbourne Australia Photos said...

Lovely! I appreciate the glories of ages past, too, Julie.

AL said...

I think I am more a luddite than not! I love these buildings.

Joan Elizabeth said...

One of my great-great-great grandfathers was a "machine breaker" and got transported to Van Diemen's Land for his efforts ... I guess that was taking being a Luddite too far.