flaneurs | Recent Entries

I've done IIIa in 2014 and 2015 so I strongly felt I needed to do it in 2016 too.

III. (a)

Travel to or from your workplace one day using a completely different route to any you've ever used before.

I'm currently working in Tooting. My normal commute is Tooting Broadway to Oval using the Northern Line. I wasn't sure how to do it this year. I'll never top the cable car and river bus of 2014, but I'd like to do something more interesting than take the 155 bus, for example.

I had a plan I may still do which involved getting a bus to Wimbledon, tram to Birkbeck (because of the name) then train to Denmark Hill. I might still do it but I've run out of month and it's Wimbledon tennis fortnight.

Not wanting to just get a direct bus I came up with: half a mile walk to Tooting BR station, train from Tooting to Loughborough Junction station, bus from there to Camberwell and then walk home. I posted on Monday about railway bridge codes which made me want to fit these in somewhere, and it follows on from some of my thinking on IIIe which uses numbers on objects to give directions.

Numbering things makes working with them easier. Your house has a number so others can tell which is which. My office door has a code so facilities can identify exactly where I am. It's not the office past the double doors on the right it's three letter code for building, digit for floor (0 for ground), decimal point and two digits for room. Different places have different codes but they all need one. My last place had codes on each electrical socket, as well as a different pattern for office doors.
( pic spam )

secretlondon

It's now the 27th and I haven't done any of the walks I'd intended to. I think I'll have to run into July.

I went to have a blood test and on the way back sat in a quiet pub having a half. I thought - why don't I do a flan home? The pub I was in, the Bear, is on Camberwell Station Road, and has a railway viaduct passing outside. However there is no station - weird! It was also previously called the station tavern.

There was a station of course, it closed in 1916, or 1964 if you consider goods traffic. Thameslink trains now go past, but they don't stop.

I decided my flan would be to walk the route between two stations, neither of which are there any more. Camberwell station (1862-1916) to Walworth Road station (1863-1916).

( pics )

Current Mood: depressed

nou

Like we did in 2014, in 2013, and in 2012, bob and I made simultaneous attempts at Theme I: Buses, subtheme (c) (get on the first bus that comes along, stay on for n stops, get off, repeat), starting from the same stop, with me taking n=5 and him taking n=6.

In 2012 I ended up in Cheam, which is a few miles southwest of Croydon out towards where London stops being London; in 2013 I ended up in Putney, which is several miles northwest of Croydon and very nearly on the other side of the Thames; and in 2014 I actually crossed the Thames into north London. Unfortunately 2016 was much less exciting.

It was so unexciting, in fact, that I can't actually bring myself to do a full writeup. My buses took me along a road that I'm thoroughly familiar with, out to a bland shopping mall, then (thanks to a one-way loop with a stop served by buses in both directions) all the way back along the same route to my starting point, then along residential streets to Crystal Palace (a 9-minute train ride from my house), then through Sydenham (a 12-minute train ride from my house, and a place where I spent an entire day the other week; indeed, one of my stops was directly opposite the cafe I had lunch in), and finally terminated at Elmers End, which is a place that has nothing in it aside from a direct tram back to my starting point. Four hours, to get basically nowhere.

Here's a map of my journey, and here's my photoset on Flickr.

secretlondon

Flan IIIe: This is designed for hospital/university campuses and similar, though would probably also work in parks, housing estates, and so on. Start after your appointment (whatever or wherever it may be). If you don't have an appointment, go to somewhere you might have one, or another scheduled activity. Begin to wander in any direction. Continue walking down the path/following the corridor. If you don't know where to go, there will be a sign; perhaps an arrow showing you the way, or a number (left for odds, right for evens). If you cannot find a sign and you need to choose a direction, choose whichever makes most sense to you. Continue for as long as you want.

( Flan )

( Flan Plan )

nou

Hello Flâneurs! How're your June Challenge attempts going so far?

A friend pointed me at another challenge going on this month — 30 Days Wild. It's UK-focused, and the website suggests you need to sign up to get the challenge materials, but you can actually just download them:

Several of these look like they could be incoporated into Flâneurs challenges...

nou

It's nearly June challenge time again! Who's joining in this year?

Here are the themes: theme I: buses, theme II: lines, theme III: doing something different. Here are reports from previous years: I.(a), I.(c), I.(d), II.(a), II.(b), II.(c), II.(d), III.(a), III.(b), III.(c), III.(d).

Note there are a couple of changes from previous years. In theme I (buses), I've removed the constraint that you have to start at a bus stop near your home or workplace. You can always choose to obey this constraint anyway if you want to. In theme III (doing something different), I've added a new option, III. (e), designed by secretlondon.

To complete the challenge, all you need to do is:

Make an attempt during June 2016 to follow at least one set of instructions from at least one theme.
Report back to the community, either via a complete trip report or simply by leaving a comment on this post stating what you did and how it went.

As before, various bits of flaneurs swag will be offered to everyone who completes the challenge (we have stickers, badges, and postcards). The more themes you try, the more swag you get.

rydra_wong

But I believe it qualifies for psychogeographical bragging, at least.

This is where I spent part of yesterday:

http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/bascule-chamber-concert/ (Google image search "bascule chamber" for more pretty pictures)

You can all be jealous of me now.

This will probably be the only time in my life I listen to a John Cage aria with a 1000-tonne weight suspended over my head.

spiralsheep

I managed a vertical walk up Hereford Cathedral. There are two posts on my journal featuring some unusual views of and from the cathedral, or you could click through the image to flickr.

Mostly from the tower roof: http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/550163.html

Mostly inside the building: http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/549739.html

09 south transept from lantern level, central tower, Hereford Cathedral 09-14

nou

Here's the roundup for this year's June challenge! Below is the list of who did what during June — please let me know of any errors or omissions.

bob did I.c [photos] and II.b in London.
mummimamma did III.b [post] in Bergen.
ridicully did I.c [post] in London.
secretlondon did a cross between III.a and III.b [post] in London and then III.a again [post] elsewhere in London.
shermarama did III.d [post] in Rotterdam.
spiralsheep did II.a [post] and III.c [post] in Birmingham; II.a [post] in Cheltenham; I.a [post in Coventry; II.a, III.c, and III.d [post on all three] in Minehead; II.c [post] in Stafford.
squirmelia did I.c [post] and II.c [post] in London, II.d [post] in Nottingham, and III.d [post] in London.

This means that spiralsheep and squirmelia did 3 themes, bob did 2 themes, and mummimamma, ridicully, secretlondon, and shermarama did 1 themes. Congratulations to all!

flaneurs swag is available to everyone who did at least one theme of the challenge. We have button badges, postcards, and stickers. If you did one theme, you get one thing, if you did two themes, you get two things, and if you did all three themes, you get all three things. Please message or email me (kake@earth.li) with a postal address and your choice(s) of prizes, and I'll get them sent out ASAP.

squirmelia

I completed challenge II. (c) - visit your local council's website and follow a walking route.

Last year, I followed a route in the borough of London that I live in: Richmond-upon-Thames, but this year I decided to choose a neighbouring borough and looked at the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames council website at Walking routes around the borough.

I chose the Hogsmill Walk - A walk along part of the Hogsmill Valley to Tolworth Court Farm.

( Read more... )

spiralsheep

I completed June challenge Ia, get off the bus when you see something interesting, on the 360 in Coventry. The 360 is a 31.5mile/50km long circular bus route around the suburbs of Coventry. There's a report with three small images at my journal.

03 Eduardo Paolozzi prints at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry 06-15

secretlondon

I said I'd (probably) follow up this - a work-home travel flan.

III. (a) Travel to or from your workplace one day using a completely different route to any you've ever used before.

I have a new job, which means that, at least for the first journey, I'm travelling home by a completely different route.

This would be clever except that I forgot to do it on my first day. I did it later, but before the end of June. This totally doesn't count, but I've done this challenge earlier anyway.

( Have some pictures! )

Current Mood: awake

mummimamma

I did the June challenge! Actually I've found doing some of the challenges rather a challenge, since my city (town rather) is rather small, and sooner rather than later you'll have to cross a mountain or swim across a fjord. But then this Monday I suddenly noticed that my regular work-home bus had gotten a new terminus. Which I had no idea were was, so the challenge kind of gave itself:

Welcome to Hesjaholtvegen (The hayrack grove road)! Somewhere in Norway...

( Join me on my trip through Norwegian suburban jungle... )

spiralsheep

I completed June challenge Lines IIa, follow that railway, in Cheltenham.

There's a report with 10 small images at my journal.

04 Winchcombe signal box and works, GWR 05-15

nou

Congratulations to everyone who attempted the June challenge! I hope to go through everything and make a roundup post within the next couple of weeks.

squirmelia

It was a rainy day in Nottingham, but by the evening, the weather had started to clear up, so I decided to go for a walk. Earlier in the day, I got a map from Tourist Information. I decided to do a beer glass walk, so turned a glass upside down and drew around it on the map.

I tried to follow the outline I had drawn as closely as possible.

( Read more and see photos )

spiralsheep

I completed June challenge Doing Something Different IIIc, random cafe, in Birmingham.

Report on the Road to Damascena, with a map and three small images, at my journal.

D02 Spirit by Anuradha Patel, Moseley Interchange, Birmingham 06-15

shermarama

This was my first attempt at flâneuring (flâneurery?) and I decided to go for the first left, second right option, starting from home. I was running, and decided to go for the duration of a podcast I'd just downloaded, which was 28 minutes. I thought that would be quite short, but actually I still went through 33 turns and 35 different streets in that time.

( List of turns and streets )
( Meanings of street names )
By the end of the podcast I'd run about 4.5 km, but because the route had generally made an anti-clockwise loop (Runkeeper map), I was only about 1.5 km from home, so there were no problems getting back. Given that it's hot out there today I was running in only shorts and vest, and the path took me through some of the more Muslim bits of Rotterdam, I felt a little awkward at times. But hey, Bullet Catcher Street!

ridicully

Yesterday I decided to give one of the bus challenges a go.

I could possibly have timed my trip a bit better, I stopped after the fifth bus not because I had enough of waiting on bus stops or had to be somewhere else but because it was late afternoon in the city and my busses were just not moving at all any more.

I started at Finsbury Park Station and the first bus that came by was the 106 to Whitechapel. I'd picked the number 7 but stop seven was a one line stop so I continued on to the first stop that had multiple lines serving it. That was Stoke Newtington Station.

Five minutes later I was on the next bus, this one a 149 to London Bridge. South it went, past the Aziziye Mosque (originally built as a cinema as wikipedia tells me) and the 7th stop was at the Rio Cinema.

Busses kept coming really quickly and less than a minute later I was on the next one, the 76 to Waterloo. This one changed destinations after three stops and instead was only going to go to Hoxton, but my 7th stop was before that at Downham Road. The next bus coming along was a 76 to Waterloo *again* but I got on anyway.

Short bit along the Regent's Canal, across and the seventh stop was City Road/Leonard Street. Traffic was getting a bit slow already, but I decided to try one more bus. 21 to Lewisham Shopping Centre it was.

But that one was winding its way through the city before even getting close to crossing the river and after getting from Liverpool Street Station to Bank took nearly 15 minutes I decided to stop my excursion at the 7th stop - King William Street/Monument Station.

It was a fun trip, but possibly not the best time xD