Thursday 2 May 2013

Pozytywki ponds after the refurbishment

A first post-winter look at the newly-deepened flood retention ponds along ul. Pozytywki. Below: a panoramic shot of the pond on the corner of Pozytywki, Katarynki and Czarkowskiego. This is Jezioro Wąsal; surrounding trees and shrubs have been cut down, the banks re-profiled and a new sluice gate fitted (foreground). At present it looks bare and uninviting; no doubt it will regain some of its semi-rustic charm when grass grows back on the banks. At the far end, a newly-deepened and widened channel linking this pond to the one further up Pozytywki (bottom picture).


Left: Wąsal looking west from ul. Czarkowskiego. The houses fronting onto ul. Pozytywki ('Music-Box Street') have had little wooden platforms built out overlooking the pond. I wonder whether this has been done as part of the refurbishment, or whether the home-owners took the initiative to construct them. It's quarter past seven in the evening, this, the southernmost extreme of Warsaw is silent and still, with just some light traffic noise coming from Puławska behind me.

Incidentally, ul. Katarynki means 'Barrel-Organ Street' or 'Hurdy-Gurdy Street'. From here, right up to ul. Poleczki six kilometres north, most streets that have appeared after 1951 when the area became part of Warsaw, have musically-themed names, with folk instruments and folk dances predominating.


Above: Jezioro Pozytywki, on ul. Pozytywki. Here, the loss of trees is more apparent; the pond has lost much of its charm. [Click on the relevant labels below to see how the area looked before it was revitalised.] Grass will return, but it was all the surrounding greenery that gave the area its now lost appeal. But it's still a pleasant area for an evening's stroll.

This time last year:
May Day in the heat [31C!]

This time two years ago:
Bike ride across rural Poland

This time six years ago:
Mazovian landmark from the air

2 comments:

Neighbour said...

Michael,

There is no title for that post :-)

I remember this pond from "before" the works - I have seen herons there. Can't imagine them now, it looks like concrete paved artificial tank for fire hose water. Many years have to pass until it gets some natural feel.

Best regards,
Neighbour

Michael Dembinski said...

@ Neighbour

It will be interesting to see when (indeed if) the herons return. I shall be watching out for them!