abandonment

English version (her name was Rosalie)

chez Rosalie

From her grocery store, when she would not be discussing the weather with her customers, she enjoyed watching the kids playing across the street. Later on, as she got older, she would be looking at the passersby from her upstairs window. And then there were not many people passing by, and so Rosalie slowly faded away.

No one has taken over her store. Along with Rosalie, Fontenoy also insidiously died, now displaying broken windows, wild grasses between the cobblestones… and cats, reigning unchallenged over the empty streets.

Not far from the marina or mountain bike trails, a stone's throw from the castle or the embroidery museum, there are these abandoned houses with locked doors and windows. In the backyards nature is slowly taking over again. We are now looking at a gradually deserted Vôge, hit by unemployment.

Welcome to Fontenoy-le-Château … *

 

grand-rue

Fontenoy-le-Château

chez Rosalie

chez Rosalie

Fontenoy-le-Château

entre chien et loup

Fontenoy-le-Château

sortie de voitures

sortie de voitures

Fontenoy-le-Château

mon trottoir

Fontenoy-le-Château

sortie de garage

attention, sortie de garage

Fontenoy-le-Château

drugstore

drugstore

Fontenoy-le-Château

un peu de pub

un peu de pub

Fontenoy-le-Château

HLM

HLM

Fontenoy-le-Château

aux premières loges

aux premières loges

Fontenoy-le-Château

home sweet home

home sweet home

Fontenoy-le-Château

est-ce un présage ?

Fontenoy-le-Château

* This text is partly a fiction. Rosalie was actually very young in 2014, she had tried to revive the grocery store in Fontenoy-le-Château. But the empty streets, the abandoned houses, really exist. . . So do the cats !

Philippe Lhote, juin 2019

 


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