MANHOLE COVER LOVERS

TWO FROM PETIT-SACONNEX, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND FROM JOANNE BOWCOCK

(I worked in Petit-Saconnex in the mid 1970's and maight have walked over or seen them!)

DEAR MANHOLE COVER LOVERS, TO KEEP YOU BUSY FOR A MINUTE OR TWO THIS SUNDAY, GUESS WHAT THIS IS?

(And 'No'  it is not any sort of animal)

Answer at end

ANSWER: It's a photo taken by a NASA satellite, space-ship, etc of something on Mars. Maybe it's a rather beaten-up Manhole Cover, and if so NASA should tell us more about it. There might also be a thriving Mail Art comunity on Mars about which more will be revealed to us in the future.

We've all seen the 'Face on Mars' — this is his teddy bear

A THREE-IN-ONE PHOTO SET OF MANHOLE COVERS FROM ALF-OLE ASK IN BRUSSELS

mail artist IUOMA member on Mars along with that "manhole cover bear" :-)

DIFFERENT SHAPE ENGLISH ONE IN THE WEST OF ENGLAND FROM HANNAH

DEAR MANHOLE COVER LOVERS,

Please post some more photos of Manhole Covers.

You must see lots each day. Photo ssome of them. Post the photos here.

This Group is kept going by just a few of its Members, and needs some more input to keep it alive and well.

If there's none, we may as well stop...which would be ssad.

Thankyou.

Val

for our dear VALENTINE :-)

THREE FROM MIM WHO IS ON HOLIDAY IN MEXICO -- thanks Mim!

FROM MIM -- LAS BRISAS, SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, MEXICO

Thanks Mim!

Somewhere in Warsaw.....

Welcome back; Raphael. We missed you, and I was worried...

Somewhere in Warsaw ..... Thanks for remembering about me.

MAASTRICHT, THE NETHERLANDS, SINGLE  & TRIPLET

TWO FROM JANE ADAMS ON HOLIDAY IN TOKYO

Today I was in the Frisian city Heerenveen and met these manhole covers:

And also these, despite of the fact that Heerenveen is in the far North of the Netherlands and Weert in the far South province Limburg:

Manhole cover in the city of Zwolle:

Thanks Heleen. The Zwolle one is very good indeed. This afternoon I watched the Volta Limburg -- an Eijsden to Eijsden 150 km, 5 hour cycle race -- in, ...Limburg! I recognised lots of the roads I used to cycle on when I lived in Cadier en Keer (near Maastricht). I didn't see any manhole covers...but it was pouring with rain there, and very sunny here. Thanks again, Val

My pleasure, Val, thank you!

Probably you then (and now they) rode so very fast that you (and they) might have been too quick to notice the manhole covers? :-)

Here is another manhole cover, fresh from the camera, in Kampen (mentioning Nijverdal, both cities are in the province Overijssel)

ANOTHER ONE FROM JANE ADAMS IN TOKYO

THREE MORE FROM JANE ADAMS* IN TOKYO

(* Jane Adams, formerly Jane Carpenter, formerly Jane Herman)

From Haptic Erni in Hamburg:

a marker in the park :-)

Manhole cover in Noordwijk at the Sea (Netherlands)

In the town - north of the river Waal - named Lent, which used to be independent but finally has been caught by the city of Nijmegen (south of the river Waal, but thanks to the Waalsprong - ‘jump over the river Waal’ - Nijmegen is now notth snd south of the river..)

Somewhere in Warsaw .......

Rain/Drain water in the Dutch city Zwolle 

And ‘vuil water’ (dirty water) in the same city

Somewhere in Warsaw ....

Amazing indeed!

I think more manhole covers should express their thoughts and feelings. Though thoughts, feelings, dreams seem to be of little weight, while the manhole covers are rather heavy...

Somewhere in Poznań (Posen) ........ Plate bearing the town's coat of arms from the historic town seal.

Thanks Heleen, If I was a manhole cover and people walked and drove over me all day long without realising  what I was , what fuctions I served, etc, I'm not at all sure that my thoughts, feelings and dreams would be repeatable to anyone/anything other than another manhole cover!

A  NARBONNE MANHOLE COVER FROM HAN FISCHER

TWO SWEDISH MANHOLE COVER FROM JOHNNY SKOOG

TWO MORE NARBONNE MANHOLE COVERS FROM HAN FISCHER -- who says he is becling 'addicted' to Manhole Covers

Somewhere in Warsaw .......

Same manhole cover, twice, in evening sun in Amsterdam:

‘Vuil water’ (‘dirty water’) manhole cover in beautiful clean picturesque Zaanse Schans, the Netherlands:

(The accompanying city Zaanstad has two whales in its coats of arms)

somewhere in Warsaw......

Manhole covers in Maarssen (Netherlands)

Common manhole cover covered with too many butts:

Uncommon manhole cover (?):

Two manhole-covers-to-be in unfinished road:

Somewhere in Warsaw .....

Somewhere in Warsaw ....

Problems can arise when the manhole cover isn’t covering the manhole: 

Seen in the Museum of Comic Art in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

(Don’t know why the second photo is across, maybe iuoma hopes the roller skater this way is prevented from falling into the hole?)

Thanks Heleen,

That's a great skating cartoon.

I'd love to use it on the cover of the manhole book I am writing.

Do you know if it's from a Disney cartoon book?

If it is, then I could either 'steal' it and hope that I don't get caught and that the Disney Empire doesn't catch me; or I could ask that Empire for pemission to use it, which would probably take a long time to get a response, and if it was positive then cost me a lot of money for image rights.

Quelle dillema!

Somewhere in Warsaw ....

FROM HAN FISCHER IN EINDHOVEN,NL

Hi Val,

Not every cartoon is Disney :-)

On the second picture you can see the description. The comics is named Fix & Foxi, by German comic artist Rolf Kauka.

According to the description this 'Illustration with Rolf Kauka's Lupo, Fix & Foxi (1954)' was made by Dorul van der Heide and Werner Hierl. And it is copyrighted by Rolf Kauka's Comicosmos Establishment.

If you don't get a license, I could make some other illustration for the book. You just have to send me a message with your wishes / mention how the skater and the bystanders must look like, and I'll make you some sketches of which you can choose one which I then shall work out :-)

Bonjour Heleen,

Thanks for the cartoon message. I'm not tuned in to the world of comics -- except for Asterix, of course!

I had never heard of Kauka and Fix and Foxi before. I'm not going to apply for a licence to use that cartoon, because it would cost me time and money, and at the moment I have not much of either one; I'm trying to get the Manhole Cover book finished this week so that it will be ready for my exhibition at the start of September. And, as usual, I am far from rich (or quite poor!)

As to your very kind offer to make me a cartoon/illustration, I would like to accept if you can get me something by the end of the week. I don't have anything special in mind -- I'm sure your imagination for these sort of things is much, much better than mine (and I'm not very good at drawing cartoons anyway!), so just send me something usable.

To help you, there are two parts to the book -- the first a short (about 3-4 pages) introduction to the manhole covers in their historical and contemporary settings (I can send you, via email a draft of this if you like: it's too long for IUOMA); the second about 120 manhole cover photos (including some that you have sent me) from about 100 cities and 20 differrent countries. I would put your cartoon/illustration between the two of these.

Can you draw something for me, please, in the next few days?

Thanks, in advance, Val

Sure I love to make something(s). I altready made some pencil sketches, though in the coming days I'm too busy with work and other tasks so time is a bit a 'thing'. Saturday evening and the whole Sunday I'll have more time, but I see you need it sooner, so I'll try to do my best to proceed asap..