Do you ever get a bit sad seeing old abandoned things?

[Sean Hollyman]

I've always loved steam trains, and I just saw some photos of some old tracks, stations and engines, and it made me feel a bit sad inside, I mean they must have held so much memories, both good and bad, and probably had joy, but now they are just left there... abandoned.. forgotten..

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Not so much sad, but fascinated.

Reminds me of the show 'Life After Humans', and how everything we've ever done, will all eventually turn into dust.

 

[unoleian]

Not really. Many abandoned things around here are old. I mean, OLD. I don't feel sad looking upon them, but from time to time, can simply feel the weight of years just by looking at them. Sometimes history is a palpable thing.

 

[Aris Khandr]

I have easily over a hundred stuffed animals in my room. I still have the bear I was given in the hospital when I was born, still have my Pound Puppy from when I was 2. So nothing makes me sadder than seeing a stuffed animal that was obviously well loved once, but is now abandoned.

 

[Psykoma]

I usually get a bit sad looking at.

http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html

Especially the art theatre.
:/

 

[Korolev]

I always feel slightly sad when I see infrastructure decaying or going to waste. But then I remind myself that sometimes it's a good thing - sometimes a facility is too inefficient to be worth upgrading (the cost of upgrading would be higher than the cost of building a new building in some cases).

I am annoyed at seeing good space go to waste. Even if the old building is useless and not worth keeping, at least clear out the land for either further use or for nature to reclaim.

 

[Squilookle]

Now old abandoned games with multiplayer modes, that's a different subject. It's sad to see a game die out when there are still 10 or so hardcore players desperately clinging onto it, with one after another moving on.

Good god yes. One of the biggest reasons I believe wholeheartedly in including multiplayer bots.

 

[theravensclaw]

single abandoned shoes. I have been known to take them if they look like they've been there for a while... Is it weird that abandoned buildings make me feel safe?

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Not so much buildings and things but I feel sad if I see a lost teddy or just something forgotten that someone used to find joy in.
I for one love the look of those tracks. It feels more like a secret hideout then abandoned.

 

[Syzygy23]

Not so much sad, but fascinated.

Reminds me of the show 'Life After Humans', and how everything we've ever done, will all eventually turn into dust.

Unless we keep up with maintenance. Then it'll last until either the Big Rip or the heat death of the universe. Take your pick.

 

[Chalacachaca]

Depends, there are some abandoned buildings in the city like Banco Comercio, which looks terrifying because I always think is gonna come down... but I think it just proves how great buildings were in the old republic (not Star Wars old republic, but the actual 4th venezuelan republic).
Although I do miss "Calle Vieja", a kind of themed old town located in a mall. I played a lot of arcade games there until it closed down in the mid 90's.

 

[mParadox]

It is kind of sad, really. I do feel sadness when I beautiful structures just standing there, waiting for the impending doom of being crushed by the mighty trucks and bulldozers.

Though, anything abandoned in Japan should stay abandoned. Creepy as hell. >_>

 

[SilverBullets000]

Nah, makes me feel hopeful. One day, that old abandoned space will be empty again for something new to be built. [sub]Then they build a gym next to it and douche-bags on steriods move in next door and start beating me up for my money. Huh...maybe they do make me a little sad. [/sub]

 

[Bertylicious]

I live in a city so abandoned buildings mean urban decay to me and all the sketchy, scary, things that implies. Doesn't make me sad though.

Your concern makes me think of Cornelius Bear's article in Time magazine and the useful test he prepared to help diagnose whether one is so afflicted:

Spoiler

Do you know the Collyer brothers? They are our time's archetypal case of hoarding. The sort of thing you read about in the Weekly World News, writ large. Unchecked men who died when their piles of busted baby carriages and Canoe Society journals finally collapsed upon them. (Well, one of them. The other one starved to death in his bathrobe.) To see them, or to think back upon Vicki, has inspired me to create this quick but, I feel, rather informative "Are You a Hoarder" questionnaire. Take it, and see if you don't have a tendril or two of this psychosis gently slipping down into your own life.

1. You have a wooden chair. Lately, it has become a shambles of its former self, and is no longer usable (the back is delaminated from rain, and one of the legs has split in two). You lack the tools and funds to have it repaired. Do you:
a) Break it up for kindling
b) Place it at the curb
c) Keep it in the house, thereby protecting it from the unfeeling world for the rest of your lives together

2. There is a sale on a particularly horrid breakfast cereal at the supermarket. It is made of waxed acorn caps and features the entire roster of the United Nations General Assembly smiling on the box. Do you:
a) Ignore the product
b) Read the nutritional information, then place it back on the shelf
c) Buy it, because maybe you'll make a friend, and if they came over, they might laugh about how funny of a thing it is

3. You are out for a walk, and you see a perfectly good used calendar sitting in a rubbish pile. The theme seems to be, "public domain pictures of vintage automobiles." Do you:
a) Not habitually rifle through trash
b) Using a twig, lift a page or two to see if they've written anything juicy in it
c) Immediately snatch it up, with giddy dreams of the small bistro-type table to which you will one day lacquer a collage of the photographs

How did you do? If answers marked "c" in any way rent at your deeper recesses, you should probably go into your closet, find a shirt you haven't worn in fifteen years (anything "Hawaiian" is a good place to start), and drop it straight into the kitchen trash. There. How did that feel? A little snag of remorse as it hit bottom? That feeling is your salvation. Come to know it, and embrace it, and recognize that it, like a burning muscle the day after a good run, is actually the feeling of healing.

(Original article: http://techland.time.com/2009/11/17/are-you-a-hoarder/)

 

[Esotera]

There's an old mining storage room quite near me that actually has a stream running in one door and out of the other. And there's a load of victorian stuff that was used for mining that has also been overgrown, and an old mill that hasn't been used in decades.

I wouldn't say it makes me sad, it's sort of cool to look at how quickly nature can reclaim things.

 

[Kae]

Not really, but sometimes I get intrigued as to why they are abandoned, and since I travel a lot I get to see all sorts of abandoned buildings by the road, and sometimes I can't quite make out what they used to be and have to go down and investigate, what can I say, I'm a curious person, heh I remember I once almost killed myself by falling of the balcony of and abandoned hotel near a pile of broken glass, the fall would have never killed me since it was just the second floor and most of the first floor was filled with sand, but yeah I love looking at those things, also see unfinished buildings they are so alluring to me, but I guess I just love exploring.