I wrote up a blog post about going for a walk, climbing a tree, nationalising the golf courses, poorly maintained public footpaths, and how leaving a town or city via any means other than the car makes you feel like a second class citizen. Unfortunately all of this was lost, thanks to the vagaries ofContinue reading “Further up and further in”
Category Archives: Places
Walthamstow Wassail 2021
Sunday was the 11th Walthamstow Wassail: online this year, like so many other events and traditions that break up the year and help give life some narrative and meaning. Conspiracy theorists view Covid as an agent of state control, and vaccines as containing microchips designed by billionaires to make the masses more pliant. These peopleContinue reading “Walthamstow Wassail 2021”
Walking to Sainsbury’s
After a few days of not leaving the house, I went to the Sainsbury’s on the other side of town. A big box by the dual carriageway [1], the trip to this mahoosive shop felt a bit like a holiday, or at least a day trip. Such are the narrowing of one’s expectations during aContinue reading “Walking to Sainsbury’s”
Ramsgate International Hoverport
Hovercrafts exist in the British postwar imagination alongside Concorde and the Post Office Tower as avatars of the rapidly arriving future. These ludicrous metal beasts, dreamed up by some archetypal crackpot inventor, brought Europe closer, but were also a symbol of British exceptionalism. Sure, the French have some nice wines, but do they have planesContinue reading “Ramsgate International Hoverport”
As rare as shark’s teeth
There’s a girl I know who rolls her eyes at the Gok Wan Acolytes / Underneath her bed there lies a collection of ammonites Fix it so she dreams of me, Half Man Half Biscuit A Sunday morning spent seeking fossils at low tide. A quick cycle along the front, past dogs and families andContinue reading “As rare as shark’s teeth”
Whitstable
Today I took a break from seeking jobs and gazing into the fire to walk along the coast to Whitstable and back. The path was busy with dog walkers and cyclists, so I stuck to the shore line and stared at the egrets and oystercatchers. Whitstable itself isn’t designed for cars, but is inundated withContinue reading “Whitstable”
Cliffe
On Friday I went to the estuary to meet a dog. We met at the village of Cliffe, which feels like a village at the end of the world. The road ends at the church, and then there’s mud, and marsh, and channels of water leading down to the grey old Thames. But humans haveContinue reading “Cliffe”
Reculver
Today’s bike jaunt took me to the edge of Thanet, and the remains of the Roman fort at the head of the Wantsum Channel [1]. It’s a lovely spot. It reminds me of Dunwich, with its ruined monastery and the sense that this place used to be more important than it now is. And thisContinue reading “Reculver”
Herne Bay to Canterbury
I cycled to Canterbury and back today, out of desperation to get further than half a mile from the house. From Herne Bay, the easiest route by bike takes you out past Greenhill and over the Thanet Way. A sorry-looking ex-pub decomposes in its plot next to the dual carriageway. You then pass up throughContinue reading “Herne Bay to Canterbury”
Goodbye to the Elephant
The redevelopment of Elephant & Castle is a miserable story of greed, exploitation and corruption, extensively documented by Southwark Notes over the years. The Heygate estate is now the miserable Elephant Park, and now the shopping centre itself is coming to its end. It is to be demolished and replaced by a shiny new development.Continue reading “Goodbye to the Elephant”
