tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82308951173999965172024-03-21T16:23:27.416-07:00Los paseantes sin rumboLawson Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03936596574848411796noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-25409271875674972492018-12-08T23:47:00.000-08:002018-12-08T23:50:09.500-08:00On Walking Through 3rd Places<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">Dear Anto</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">Since we’re probably the only two people reading this blog I thought I’d address you directly!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">I was wondering about the phenomenology of places and walking. What I think I mean by phenomenology is the experience of a place or object seen when walking (experience, not concrete reality), and specifically in relation to another similar place or object. For example - when you pass a building or a wood that reminds you of another building or wood and somehow the two become fused together into one atmosphere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">This realisation may occur gradually but it could also be as sudden as seeing an old shop front from a bus window and in it the sweet shop from your childhood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">The Avenida Cinqo de Mayo in Buenos Aires is tied together in my mind somehow with Holborn’s Kingsway. Is it just a similarity of architecture that makes me think this?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">I have read somewhere - Twitter or Facebook I think - a light dismissal of poetry that goes something like “Yes poets, we get it: some things are </span><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext-italic"; font-size: 17pt; font-style: italic;">like</span><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;"> other things.” But I have come to think that when comparing two ‘things’ you are actually talking about three ‘things’. In my Kingsway/Cinqo de Mayo example you then have:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">Since the poetic experience is exactly that: ‘An experience’, then really we are not linking two things when we reach for the word ‘like’ but rather the ‘experience of the things’.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">The poem is not a monument to the moment but a monument to the experience of the moment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">I want to use poem in its most broadest sense. So the feeling I get walking down Kingsway is the meeting point of two rivers of experience. But is it a monument? Yes. But unlike a written poem or work of art it is still vibrating with change because, for now, it is a monument that I continue to live through and build upon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">The monument is a very real third place: there is no Kingsway, there is no Av. Cinqo de Mayo, but there is a kingsway-cinqo-de-mayo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">Sometimes 3rd places will occur even when it’s not clear to us what’s being tied together with the word ‘like’. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">Walking on Pineapple street in Brooklyn one evening I saw a piano near a window and felt the vibrations of a 3rd place. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">The same feeling has struck me standing in front of Pissarro’s ‘Louvre Under Snow’ at the National gallery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">For both of these examples (and following my previous formula) I could only write them down as:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">I have a memory of walking beside a wood of chestnut trees on a bright cold morning but I don’t know now whether the wood or the walk actually existed. Did I dream them or were they real? Either way, the image appears at random moments when what I experience seems to channel or marry to the atmosphere of the chestnut trees to create the sensation of a 3rd place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">Writing in ‘Poetry’ magazine in November 2017, the writer Matthew Bevis notes:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">“</span><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext-italic"; font-size: 17pt; font-style: italic;">Poetry is, among other things, a reminder that bewilderment may be a bequest.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">So maybe the 3rd place needs no further explanation than that it exists. It is handed to us without instructions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: ".sfuitext"; font-size: 17pt;">Anyway, these are my thoughts. I need coffee - I hope you’re having a great weekend!</span></div>
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Lawson Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03936596574848411796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-11394877185788177032018-06-04T17:02:00.002-07:002018-06-04T17:18:44.506-07:00Strolling down Peter's Hill<div style="text-align: justify;">
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What am I doing here, in an early misty morning of spring. I'm lucky that there's no rain. I stand on the south side of Saint Paul's Cathedral, right at the top of Peter's Hill, in the middle of the paved semicircle. I feel the humidity floating in the air fighting the first warm particles announcing the slow arrival of new temperatures - the white petals fallen from the cherry trees support my theory. I admire the white flowers of the cherry trees around me, the white facade of the temple, the white sky forever vast and high. The few pedestrians and buses at this time don't bother my connection with the void, with the beyond - which ever this is.</div>
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I turn my back to the temple, to the blossoming cherries and the white void. I start strolling down Peter's Hill with no regrets, along the ramp. Going down hill helps me to forget the past, my inexistent faith. I forget the void and look forward. I find three quiet mirror balls in my way that help me distort the view of the past and walk towards the future. However, I can't help looking back, the impressive dome of Saint Paul's tries to camouflage uselessly and stands dormant and clear against the white eternal cloud - the further you move away, the bigger it becomes, like any prohibition. Its sharp breast pointing up, as an icon of what really matters.<br />
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My soul seems lighter at every step, but my freedom stumbles upon that one banned to the skaters on every handrail. As I approach the river in the distance, the red brick facade of the old repurposed Bankside Power Station motivates my journey towards more colourful faiths - if only we could live faithless.<br />
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Half way down the hill, there is a long wooden bench - bit rotten in one side - looking towards my way. It helps the flaneurs in their reflections. I enjoy the break infused in freedom among city workers passing fast, looking down on their steps.<br />
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A zebra cross - some strange force keeps pausing my way forward away from the temple and its white tentacles. To the right, a giant walky-talky offering help like an emergency phone in the fire escape. On the other side of the road, the Salvation Army trying to recruit peasants shouting out nice offers of warm coffee and danish buns, but I ignore the kindness with my eyes fixed on the red bricks - if only they were yellow - on which you can now read: <i>Modern art from around the world</i>.<br />
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Finally the annunciation, the message, a meaning of life, an ecstasy beyond the <i>HSBC gates</i>.<br />
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My legs get to a steady pace over the river, on the Millenium Bridge. I greet Ben, the gum-painter, real people doing real things. The towers of the city on my left almost crumbling into the river. The high tide splashes small waves on the walls of the north bank reminding me of home. A flock of purposed-face joggers make the bridge wobble slightly. The doubt strikes my path again. White gulls hover over the river waiting for tourists to arrive with their left overs.<br />
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At the end of the bridge, the big erected tower of the Tate Modern raises in front of me, like the hidden sun, promising safety, empowering the warmth of a mindfulness existence.<br />
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The end of the bridge makes you turn back to where you came from, it makes you land on the south bank looking back but walking forward. The giant white breast has disappeared in a thick white mist. The smell of caramel-coated almonds in the making brings your smile down to earth, the white coat of the birches brimming with green guide your way to the red entrance of the museum of modern art.<br />
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While I wait for the opening time, I observe the buskers getting ready for their performance. The river runs by. It still has that brown matt colour from this side.</div>
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antojedahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17296726623746515110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-25793936597479362762018-05-31T08:12:00.002-07:002018-06-06T06:00:04.504-07:00Crossing From the Tate Modern to St Paul's<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 15px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I enjoy the walk from home to the office and in the evening from the office back home. It takes about three-quarters of an hour." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 15px;">- Vincent van Gogh, in a letter to Theo van Gogh, </span><span style="background-color: white;">London, 30 April 1874</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"The Lord have mercy on those who weaken and stand in the middle; only at the end, the only salvation is at the end of the road."</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> - From 'The Fratricides' by Nikos Kazantzakis</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the very middle of the bridge, between St Paul's and the Tate Modern, you find the peanut sellers, gum painters, fake art-dealers, wedding photographers, TV crews, and tourist groups. Walking towards them from the Southbank the dome of St Paul's hangs in the distance, the wind comes off the river a little, and looking down towards the water you see a long stretch of mud, brick, and dirty sand. </span>On some days the river is sludgy, on others it’s dotted brightly with waves. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes, when the tide is low, little </span>figures comb the shoreline.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The shoreline is a kind of no-man's land and the bridge is a kind of no-man's land too. Maybe it's interesting to think of these places as being no-places, suspended between museum and church. Maybe it's interesting too that we name bridges. To the right is Tower bridge, to the left, Blackfriars and this is the Millennium Bridge which, unlike the others, tells you nothing about where you are going or where you have just been. Perhaps it should have been named after St Paul. It is in these middle-places that time slows and magic sometimes happens. Sunsets are middle places and so are sunrises. In a way they are little commutes between ideas of what is definite.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bridges have something of the magical commute about them and though St Paul watches over this one there is no 'Saul on the road to Damascus' stuff here. The surface of the bridge glints and shimmers in the sun without requiring an epiphany. Standing in the middle with the little gum paintings and trying not to get in the way of people’s photos, it's enough that St Paul's, beautiful with its white dome and little flourishes of gold, is here as the back drop to a journey home....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">... Sunlight catches a gold statue on the roof of St Paul’s... A breeze blows steam from the peanut vendor’s cart... I’d meant to say something about spires, about the shard being unfinished at the top, about St Paul's and other buildings including intricate designs and sculptures so high up that only a god would be able to see them: this seems important somehow... but as I wander down onto the opposite bank, with St Paul's school, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">the breeze, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">and little mirror ball sculptures in front of me, I try to remember a poem by Wallace Stevens instead. How does it go? What does it mean? I'm not sure but it ends something like:</span><br />
<pre style="line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 10px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">...The boots of the men clump
On the boards of the bridge.
The first white wall of the village
Rises through fruit-trees.
Of what was it I was thinking?
So the meaning escapes.
The first white wall of the village . . .
The fruit-trees . . .</span></pre>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Metaphors of a Magnifico</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>- Wallace Stevens</b></span></div>
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Lawson Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03936596574848411796noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-79056923679253898882017-07-01T02:51:00.000-07:002017-07-01T02:51:38.227-07:00The Lea Valley<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "-webkit-standard","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A path leads away from the Lea Bridge Road, winding through
thickets that catch tin cans, crisp packets and pieces of paper, weaving its
way like a gentle river into Hackney marshes. The traffic noise calms to a slow
simmer, and it's as though a large animal has been tamed or grown tired.
Magpies cackle in the trees, Blackbirds sing. Bindweed climbs across a bank of
nettles throwing up white flowers like tiny porcelain bowls. Bright green
parakeets dash between leaves. A tree sends out a covering of seeds that fall
upon the footpath and the brambles beside it like a thick layer of cotton wool.
If my googling is correct, this is the Black Poplar, or Water Poplar, and said
to be the most endangered hardwood tree in the UK. Water Poplars can live up to
200 years. 100 Years ago there was the water works, the filter beds, and pump
systems. 200 years ago there were the trees, the animals, and the Lea river
moving slowly over the marshes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "-webkit-standard","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Though the path is concrete and fenced on either side by black
iron rails, there is still a sense of civilisation unravelling into wilderness.
This is a landscape of birds, and wind, and trees, and tall grass. Only this
giant red metal bridge crossing the river, blocking almost all view of it
reminds you that the landscape has been shaped by humans. Beyond the bridge
wild flowers move in the breeze. The land opens out into a huge field with rows
and rows of white goal posts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "-webkit-standard","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The path turns behind a row
of Silver Birch to avoid the football pitches. Now the view is small again and
the birds return, calling to one another. In the longer grass and in the hedges
there are spaces were animals have made their own paths.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Lawson Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03936596574848411796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-16986615442319666972017-04-18T12:49:00.000-07:002017-04-18T12:50:31.742-07:00Behind the Lea Valley Riding Centre<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
Following a path across Millfields park, behind the ice rink and on through the riding centre. The path crosses the Lea River before continuing over the train tracks and on towards Walthamstow.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXllGVPzxcGGZleN5RHZa_szJtb5_DdP0SQ-dMcdyeIXpGYJfPd0ctyzjOXwky1CeD2tA3of0v1B1ZZqo2zA7kf67rqJFgeWgIvscGk4IlQgPKq5X3YjTZpzhSrN0uTohJdjJJhccdNdA/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXllGVPzxcGGZleN5RHZa_szJtb5_DdP0SQ-dMcdyeIXpGYJfPd0ctyzjOXwky1CeD2tA3of0v1B1ZZqo2zA7kf67rqJFgeWgIvscGk4IlQgPKq5X3YjTZpzhSrN0uTohJdjJJhccdNdA/s400/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Lawson Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03936596574848411796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-377153517109989402017-03-23T04:39:00.001-07:002017-03-23T04:40:40.470-07:00Sailors´ Village without sailors.<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">I would like to talk to you about these sailors.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br />Well, at least I like thinking they are sailors, although they're not close to a seashore, if they have ever been close to one.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Their houses made of wood and their facades painted in colours. Their roofs raise up to the stormy skies like the crest of waves, breaking against imaginary figureheads.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Every morning I cross their village.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The wind blows around its corners, and fills its alleys with brown leaves and blue carrier bags sailing against the whirlwinds.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The cables hit the mast of the antenas at a continuous metallic pace.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Never I have seen kids on the front yard decks, the swing in the playground only rocks its own shadow.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Every morning, alone.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">I look for eyes behind the net curtains or whistles coming from the slot of an open window. Doors open behind my steps, and close instantly when I turn my head to them.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">My eyes hang from a sudden camera zoom.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Nothing happens at the sailors' village without sailors, without boats.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<br />
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq-fRsZyspRyb7ede7DSMUt2bET0AZyFosJWlulZfjbXLalufj8hq7ZpvPQ0AOAejudiESLEp-N3izQFa3PlxFxB-Vm_oNL4nf3SCxP59rJKdLaVP6A21sVUw8G3-Tb3ZUHNzbLlzovKs/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq-fRsZyspRyb7ede7DSMUt2bET0AZyFosJWlulZfjbXLalufj8hq7ZpvPQ0AOAejudiESLEp-N3izQFa3PlxFxB-Vm_oNL4nf3SCxP59rJKdLaVP6A21sVUw8G3-Tb3ZUHNzbLlzovKs/s200/unnamed.jpg" width="200" /></a>antojedahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17296726623746515110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-86147512904920214082017-03-11T13:21:00.000-08:002017-03-12T00:32:28.009-08:00Collecting Dandelions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the summer of 1985 my Mum and I went for a walk through the country lanes close to our house.<br />
<br />
It was warm and dry and we had an idea that if we collected flowers from the side of the road we could later press them into a notebook.<br />
<br />
I say 'we' but it must have been her idea really. Perhaps it was something she had done as a child.<br />
<br />
I would have been four years old.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetdxtIVHYxOZVDRGkhbcwuxAP78S48_puRVy97uS9CuyuNzsbAMtOJUWIrgCzVT2rIcxVQzUpJ9ix7BHxMmVvLIiZVbl8s0bam2oIxTwxElHUood_245Lj5faWXE9IG_HXwG6DFnFnzg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-03-11+at+20.04.13.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetdxtIVHYxOZVDRGkhbcwuxAP78S48_puRVy97uS9CuyuNzsbAMtOJUWIrgCzVT2rIcxVQzUpJ9ix7BHxMmVvLIiZVbl8s0bam2oIxTwxElHUood_245Lj5faWXE9IG_HXwG6DFnFnzg/s640/Screen+Shot+2017-03-11+at+20.04.13.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I remember the fields being yellow.<br />
<br />
In the banks of grass beside the roads we found dandelions, buttercups, and bright blue flowers that I don't know the name of.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1jV39FshZ-7zjrvXm8mR6XRsTx3wCb3QTbibPNnh67EJKhAIoXgiAuwuh26lFbRbw9eVvcdk5urW7EORJUJ_fWQnw5UwGas4DAR6TGj_6_2o0nIbrb3vXiVy2tBiczu7vrafIVd4zBw8/s1600/FullSizeRender-2.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBJhpzROzUT11xQwrhJh3RXuqkBS4tkYEcob1lfGPG-6P2b6_A4lS1LrhdyD_qKDtb2P_ZnQUWaJ0QFKQoI2xJxygDNOoeUM94nsx2_fkYbOKi_idV1GDJGyd4m7b95L6ZS84YPy2NsUc/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBJhpzROzUT11xQwrhJh3RXuqkBS4tkYEcob1lfGPG-6P2b6_A4lS1LrhdyD_qKDtb2P_ZnQUWaJ0QFKQoI2xJxygDNOoeUM94nsx2_fkYbOKi_idV1GDJGyd4m7b95L6ZS84YPy2NsUc/s320/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="240" /></a><b><span style="color: white;"> </span></b><span style="color: white;"> </span><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1jV39FshZ-7zjrvXm8mR6XRsTx3wCb3QTbibPNnh67EJKhAIoXgiAuwuh26lFbRbw9eVvcdk5urW7EORJUJ_fWQnw5UwGas4DAR6TGj_6_2o0nIbrb3vXiVy2tBiczu7vrafIVd4zBw8/s320/FullSizeRender-2.jpg" width="240" /><br />
<br />
We must have walked in a loop. Perhaps we cut across fields, although we would have a pushchair with us so that seems unlikely.<br />
<br />
I think I remember the fields being quiet though I'm sure cars passed at intervals, becoming louder as they approached and then quickly dying away.<br />
<br />
The idea of silent yellow fields and cars mixes in my mind with a kind of early summer morning smell and the sound of blackbirds.<br />
<br />
But these must be from later summers. The smell of the shade behind the house with the sun baking down and cutting the garden in two. Blackbirds outside a bedroom window in the early evening.<br />
<br />
Did I sellotape the flowers into the Transformers notebook? I think so; look at the way the tape has been torn.<br />
<br />
Also, the flowers were fixed into position with the book upside down and back to front. I recognise my own work here.<br />
<br />
Did we walk back together or did I sleep in the pushchair? Were the flowers carried in my mum's handbag or did I want to hold onto them?<br />
<br />
We must have stuck them down after lunch, placing a heavy object on top of the book to press the flowers into position.<br />
<br />
We would have shown them to my Dad that evening.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtz3JuPQXX7f05m14UzKUqNlC9-4UUC0DZfhYBHOF8E253R2dGONSdf67EsRg5nUy7kKA5Yn_ascvoFpDP_LMimoNoZKUKxr_CwZGuSBA1Ounm0ZV7pO5OP5Hy_zWcNWDuxH32gl1_WY/s1600/FullSizeRender-3.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtz3JuPQXX7f05m14UzKUqNlC9-4UUC0DZfhYBHOF8E253R2dGONSdf67EsRg5nUy7kKA5Yn_ascvoFpDP_LMimoNoZKUKxr_CwZGuSBA1Ounm0ZV7pO5OP5Hy_zWcNWDuxH32gl1_WY/s320/FullSizeRender-3.jpg" width="240" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3tU2if1b4pdcNpy8J8_4MPlmz-JJ7dzet8sFXmdJ4ySjN1pO6JdnCxRqr402v9Ow9FUeiI40EmBxmntfHIlSKR4G8cDNh6WjNy6e-hbMLrZXf1Apo4qTvJNZ8we5cIoZb4KXFuZTTV4/s1600/FullSizeRender-4.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3tU2if1b4pdcNpy8J8_4MPlmz-JJ7dzet8sFXmdJ4ySjN1pO6JdnCxRqr402v9Ow9FUeiI40EmBxmntfHIlSKR4G8cDNh6WjNy6e-hbMLrZXf1Apo4qTvJNZ8we5cIoZb4KXFuZTTV4/s320/FullSizeRender-4.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Lawson Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03936596574848411796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-78550204290717430042016-11-10T12:56:00.001-08:002017-03-11T13:34:41.943-08:00The Sleepwalking Soul<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Cada cuerpo con su deseo</i><br />
<i>y el mar el frente.</i><br />
<i>Cada lecho con su naufragio</i><br />
<i>y los barcos al horizonte.</i><br />
- Eugenio Montejo<br />
<br />
For a swimmer, making his way into the sea<br />
the waves are a physical reminder of time.<br />
The space between each wave is calculated,<br />
the body carefully positioned to ride over<br />
or glide through each wave. Here time equals action.<br />
The trough of each wave is enjoyed; the heat of the sun,<br />
the coolness of the water, the taste of salt, a yacht seeming<br />
not to move on the horizon, disappearing behind a wave, and the next,<br />
and another, until he emerges triumphant into the tranquility of clear water.<br />
<br />
The horizon is one long<br />
stripe of blue, looking back land stretches out<br />
bisecting the blue of the sky and the<br />
blue of the sea and it is here<br />
that the soul begins its drift;<br />
gently and without announcement.<br />
<br />
The beach may be empty or it<br />
may appear as a pointillist landscape<br />
dotted with the coloured bags and towels<br />
of other bathers. He will search for his own,<br />
scouring the beach for private landmarks,<br />
tracing the memory of his steps<br />
across the sand down to the shore.<br />
<br />
If he manages to locate his towel, it will be far<br />
from where he expected to find it.<br />
The sensation is of a slippage of time.<br />
There are no footprints to mark the journey.<br />
It is as though he has moved between time zones<br />
and though he knows that a day has been lost,<br />
that he must adjust his watch, the body refuses to believe it;<br />
the disjuncture between the reality of place and the sensation of place being too great.<br />
<br />
A quiet acceptance washes in.<br />
He can't point to a when or a how but he knows<br />
that a change has occurred over which he has had no control,<br />
or if he had, he has come to realise it too late.<br />
<br />
And so he feels the heat of the sun,<br />
the coolness of the water against his skin<br />
and he makes his way, slowly, allowing the waves<br />
to propel him, back toward the beach.</div>
Lawson Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03936596574848411796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-88573796886185554712016-11-07T03:12:00.003-08:002017-03-11T00:57:00.301-08:00Random Impressions 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I tried and failed about ten times to write this as one coherent piece so I'm going to list things as a series of jump cuts instead:<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
---- </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The road between Blackhorse road station and Tottenham. I walked along there hoping to see the reservoirs but it was so misty that I couldn't see more than a few metres past the fence. At intervals fishermen and geese appear through the fog.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
---</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A bridge over the canal in Tottenham has a plaque explaining that it was built in the first year of the great war. This and the mist makes me think of the poet <a href="http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/items/show/3898">Edward Thomas.</a> </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
---</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Walking past Ghanaian churches hidden amongst the warehouses close to the canal in Tottenham. A taxi driver confirms that the churches are all Ghanaian but that he is Nigerian. Once, when living in Lagos, one of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti">Fela Kuti's</a> wives had been his landlady and he was a regular visitor to '<a href="http://www.factmag.com/2015/10/15/fela-kuti/">The Shrine</a>'.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
---</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Two ducks swimming in a small stream banked by rubbish.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
---</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A yellow tree raining leaves down onto the pavement close to the Lea Bridge roundabout.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
---</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Downs pub has a sign which says that in 1870 the first cycle club in the UK had their inaugural meeting there. Opposite, the Downs are empty, cold, and windswept.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Lawson Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03936596574848411796noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-87910083273776177302016-03-09T07:49:00.001-08:002018-04-12T07:02:09.958-07:00Hartham road<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light";">Hartham </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">road</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light";"> is a right angle. It is </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">neither
perpendicular nor parallel to the almost straight Hillmarton road, which joins
Caledonian and Camden road to be the south side of a triangle. Same as Hartham road
joins the beginning of Hillmarton road and the end of Hungerford road, which
flows into Hillmarton road again forming this time an imperfect quadrangle,
only cut in two by a cul-de-sac called Freegrove road.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEx0vmylWc0yA7O_mRuJmsOPnWBL8fma2YMtC4PrXT1aiRn5KOaWedyQgRxAmAw8aYYz_P6ChKi4Ant62_yUtHlIms_DGGlFBF6ykdSYBPW9ifRGIbmOkcee319TCgsmGkUfvpPgpy-xc/s1600/Hartham+Road+sign.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEx0vmylWc0yA7O_mRuJmsOPnWBL8fma2YMtC4PrXT1aiRn5KOaWedyQgRxAmAw8aYYz_P6ChKi4Ant62_yUtHlIms_DGGlFBF6ykdSYBPW9ifRGIbmOkcee319TCgsmGkUfvpPgpy-xc/s320/Hartham+Road+sign.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Hartham road at its beginning from Hilmarton road.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light';">London
planes and cherry trees crown the pavements and get dressed and undressed as
time goes by. Some of the trunks have eaten the bricks on the fences; they look
like gigantic swollen gums breaking through the bricks. Some owners have decided
to rebuild the fences a step forward, so you can see - in inverse proportion -
the aging of the bricks and the movement of the trees. Some trees even have a
private altar so they can preach to the pedestrians walkin</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light';">g by. Acacias or
black locusts can be seen at some front yards, even an exotic loquat at the
upper part of the road. You could also find some palm trees, avocados and olive
trees – I have even seen a kentia and a Swiss cheese plant or two, all the
latest, of course, through the bay windows of the Victorian Houses, trying to
reach out for fresh air. Interesting people, that try to grow tropical plants
inside their homes, live at Hartham road. The English always dreaming overseas,
beyond the cloud. Imagine their back yards, the secret gardens that could be
found at the other side of the gates of moss and screech; the glass ponds, the liquid
willows, the stone benches. But let’s go back to the street.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Not
much happens at Hartham road apart from the spring and the autumn, bringing
both seasonal colors to the dun-bricked street. Time in Hartham road hangs like
dried clothes from the line. I remember once having breakfast on a Saturday early
morning in front of the kitchen window, the sun already shaving the top leaves
of the trees, when I saw a man dressed in night, walking up the street with a
severe drunk pace but still maneuvering his mobile phone with one hand. When he
got to the house opposite my position, he felt that he needed to urinate – he
hesitated around ten seconds and then started to look for his fly with the
other hand. When he got to find his penis, he pulled it out to the cold, then
opened the fence to the yard without taking his eyes from the little screen,
stepped into it and next to the cherry tree, he peed until he was satisfied. It
took him the time it took me to finish half of my warm coffee and a bite of my
toast, his phone kept him busy all the time. When he finished the piss, he
forgot to put back his willy, stepped out of the yard and, leaving the gate
opened, continued his walk at the same pace up the street.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
should not skip telling you about the golden light that coats the air in the
afternoon from the month of February until early November. The sun rays get
lower than the clouds before the sun sets, and transforms the shriveled
branches into Chinese silhouettes in the winter, and filters through the green
leaves creating a bit of fresh air in the long summer afternoons. And that is a
great moment for contemplation.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
antojedahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17296726623746515110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230895117399996517.post-19515814034250744312015-08-23T07:57:00.002-07:002015-08-23T07:57:58.043-07:00Islington to the Tate Modern (Part 1)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpWfM9vO7pOLh658w6hyphenhyphenzgvIAatgQ8ATo3NeAYa4vJ9dG3kMxa70ypXz5JF2Jzn37mu5HbmmIrcNK30iZkCfWxXi7dzt8kYCOMY5ZqhuvCCorCsdeek5HPEDwNah0u6aPN-3vXQEy2Id4/s1600/River+Walk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpWfM9vO7pOLh658w6hyphenhyphenzgvIAatgQ8ATo3NeAYa4vJ9dG3kMxa70ypXz5JF2Jzn37mu5HbmmIrcNK30iZkCfWxXi7dzt8kYCOMY5ZqhuvCCorCsdeek5HPEDwNah0u6aPN-3vXQEy2Id4/s320/River+Walk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
In the easrly morning Essex road runs down from the north of the city with all the noise and suddeness of the Colarado river. It is a sea of voices and action - the bus hurtling towards the kerb, the sirens screaming and falling, earphoned pedestrians shouting or stepping into the road without warning.<br />
<br />
I allow myself to be dragged along as far as the Sainsburys local and then turn off to follow a quieter tributory that flows alongside the main road. There is a small canal-way here that has been fenced in or 'museumed' by the local council.<br />
<br />
If I remember correctly, it was once part of larger network of canals that once brought fresh water into the city. Now, no longer in use, it has become a pond; a tiny bucolic corner where ducks bob through green water, overhanging trees throw pools of shade, and tramps sink quietly into long afternoons of drunkenness.<br />
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This morning I have chosen to weave my way through the small side streets down to Angel, ticking off the private landmarks of my neighbourhood, or what I perceive to be my neighbourhood, as I go. There is the old 16th century Manor House with its garden full of pink roses, the square; exploding with palm trees as suddenly as a desert oasis, the building where George Orwell once lived, the Italian art gallery, the huge church with a queue of homeless men trailing from its back door, the plaque noting the spot where a German bomb had landed destroying a terrace of houses, the small flower shop hidden beneath large overhanging trees, and then, at the end of the high street, the buildings that were once the old Angel Inn and stood like a gateway to the city; marking the end of one world and the beginning of another.<br />
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From here, Goswell road is a confusion of design stores, old warehouses, and brutalist apartment buildings. It is scruffy and dog eared and seems to have been largely spared, or overlooked, by modern developers. On one building a sign boasts of video to video editing services, others carry faded adverts for cleaning products and things that are no longer available. But despite this there are still signs of early gentrification. A coffee shop with brightly coloured neon lights and kitchy decor sits at one corner overlooked by empty office buildings.<br />
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A moment later, set back from the main road, is a leafy-green square shadowed by buildings that seem to have closed in on it while it's back was turned. Like so many corners of the city, it looks like a tiny pocket of forgotten village life. At the centre of the square is an ancient wooden band stand.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2phu6lLjqYrVDqjvMAHQSvkX4LG4x_6CKvvfUF4JhXWE13CQJ4dYpa33HMBz0H1zNGU9raVMteIWx4rMDoU-KG6ucywbe19JBuQ61QKG-6Scxqp3GCcpliQZiRuU5oFWiP7mGYp0xy0s/s1600/bandstand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2phu6lLjqYrVDqjvMAHQSvkX4LG4x_6CKvvfUF4JhXWE13CQJ4dYpa33HMBz0H1zNGU9raVMteIWx4rMDoU-KG6ucywbe19JBuQ61QKG-6Scxqp3GCcpliQZiRuU5oFWiP7mGYp0xy0s/s320/bandstand.jpg" width="320" /></a>Back on the main road is the office and showroom of architect Zaha Hadid. This isn't so unexpected; from here the road runs quickly down to the Barbican whose towers can be seen looming high on the horizon, giving the neighbourhood an air of design-world authority. There is no obvious way in to the Barbican. Steps appear an unexpected moments, leading up to walkways, empty squares, and dead ends. Balconies are given street names and open out to reveal that they are not balconies at all, but forgotten streets criss-crossing above the traffic below. Sometimes a path will weave around a building before plunging suddenly into a darkened tunnel, only to appear moments later at an open square; full of benches and fountains, but empty. Some tunnels reveal secrets. One, for example, hides the work of ceramic artist Dorothy Annan. A full wall is dedicated to a tiled mural that once covered the front of a building on Fleet street. (to be Continued..)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielYC-JdwcVStr9bo5woYbpNyPNjVQhcnSeVxCMzI4KJvmkzvrml1hQNkpoaAZEAAeAYe8I4eqH8xESJ8q4uru8wvaHSRQ01MuneJI-Bmn0AvFGATmMp9kMR5FpZMeiO_JvB6X2rd2Z_I/s1600/dorothyannan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielYC-JdwcVStr9bo5woYbpNyPNjVQhcnSeVxCMzI4KJvmkzvrml1hQNkpoaAZEAAeAYe8I4eqH8xESJ8q4uru8wvaHSRQ01MuneJI-Bmn0AvFGATmMp9kMR5FpZMeiO_JvB6X2rd2Z_I/s640/dorothyannan.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Lawson Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03936596574848411796noreply@blogger.com0