Roundabout No.9

Yet another drive-by 'shooting' of a Jeddah roundabout - I got two good ones today and it was a tough call to decide which to blip. I knew that this was scrap metal from an old condenser, but I thought I'd share with you how it's described in my book.

The Condenser (i) Julio Lafuente - Scrap Metal

During the first half of the last century, much of Jeddah's water was provided by two British-built condensers - primitive precursors to today's sophisticated desalination plants. The roar of the 'Lancashire boilers' - audible throughout the city - prompted one local poet to write: 'Save us from the clamour of the kindasah' - a prayer which was finally answered when, in 1947, completion of a pipeline from the wells of Wadi Fatimah made the condensers redundant. The equipment stood rusting for decades until Lafuente used the scrap metal in three sculptures.

Jeddah - City of Art - Hani M Farsi