Neat Things in "Ugly" Places.

One thing I always try to make sure to do in my life is to try to find beautiful things about "ugly" places. I put that word in quotations because I really don't like to use that vocabulary. I rarely think something is ugly, and usually if I do it's 99.8% of the time in reference to someone's attitude rather than a physical object or being. For example, terrorists are ugly and bulldogs are not.

However, if someone was going to use a word to describe the rather *ahem*. . . charming. . . neighborhood I live in, I would not be shocked if they used the word ugly. However, I have spent about four or so years of my life looking out of my windows in this part of town and have found many beautiful aspects in the architecture. . . the doped up people, however, I will refrain from commenting on.

I love how it really shouts out the city's history here. This place was once home of the world's biggest export docks. . . or something like that. It all has a lot to do with coal mining, the working class, and some wealthy people raking in all the expensive business deals. The houses and buildings here are terraced. They're all small. They look like they've been painted a thousand and three times with the changing shops on the bottom levels. A few brick buildings didn't get pebble-dashed or plastered with horrible trends passing through time. Even though I'm pretty sure most of the fire places in the terraced buildings have been boarded up or turned into gas fire places, I love love love the chimney tops on the roofs. They look like something from Mary Poppins. I love the triangles on the roofs that look like ric rac with triangles covered in slate tiles in between each peak and valley. I love the smooth bend of the street lights. I don't know why, but they just look so fresh and modern because of that curve. It makes a funny juxtaposition tucked into the street of rather nineteenth century architecture. I love old and new mixed together, and the street lights aren't even that new. So there you have it. . . I do try to enjoy living in the crappy part of town. :)

Has anyone else found anything pretty special in a not so beautiful place?