Wednesday 29 August 2007

Greenhouse sunset

The word 'greenhouse' today is associated with carbon dioxide and global warming, but down Jeziorki way it represents a dying way of life. Back in the 1970s, private market gardeners were allowed to run their own greenhouses to help supply Warsaw's growing population with fresh produce (that the inefficient public sector couldn't). 'Badylarze', the pejorative term of the time for the market gardeners, built greenhouses on the city's rim and burnt old tyres, bunker oil and unsold copies of Trybuna Ludu, and got rich producing tomatoes and carnations the year round.

These days, their businesses have to compete with growers from across the European Union. Many market gardeners have gone bust, their greenhouses lingering idle until the land gets sold for housing development. That's where the serious money is to be made round here these days.

This evening I snapped this greenhouse on ul. Trombity, one of dozens in Jeziorki, under a splendid sunset. How many will remain in five years time?

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