Walking in the city

k-punk

Spectres of Mark
Fabulous piece in the Standard on Tuesday which found that, to no surprise of those of us who do like to walk in the city, walking was actually quicker than the tube for seven common London routes.

Unlike the forms of exercise favoured by Kapitalism (quick energy burns in the gym so that you are fit for work the next day), walking is a form of energetic activity which has no relation to work whatsoever. Those arch opponents of work, the situationists, were correct to settle on 'aimless walking' (the derrive) as a strategy against zombie consumerism. There is no product, no goal; walking is the very defintion of a plateau.
 

mms

sometimes
me and my mate paul have this disease when we meet up in london. we plan to walk somewhere, usually somewhere that's very easy to find really, and always get hopelessly lost for hours, but it's brilliant and we like it.
 

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
I still got lost in Soho whenever I go to shops down there (for records, obviously). I will never figure it out, but I quite like the adventure of it.
 

mms

sometimes
Diggedy Derek said:
I still got lost in Soho whenever I go to shops down there (for records, obviously). I will never figure it out, but I quite like the adventure of it.


got lost in soho for 3 hours last night just trying to find beak street.
 

k-punk

Spectres of Mark
I always get lost in Soho too! What is it about Soho that makes that happen do you think?

The other place I'm hopeless at is Bloomsbury --- all those Squares --- I'll never fathom it lol ---
 

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
With Soho, it's like the designer drew an logical, square grid of streets, and then rubbed out some of the interconnecting roads, and added a couple of tiny little streets in between. So you can't rely on certain streets crossing, and other streets are secreted within the gaps with fractal-like detail. It should be so easy, but if you go into it with a gung-ho attitude you're liable to get it in the ass (so to speak).

Dissensus-crew get lost in Soho a lot, yeah that won't stand up in court will it.

Right, enough Soho jokes from me.
 

mms

sometimes
k-punk said:
I always get lost in Soho too! What is it about Soho that makes that happen do you think?

The other place I'm hopeless at is Bloomsbury --- all those Squares --- I'll never fathom it lol ---


distraction, lack of a centre, or rather several different areas with differrent meanings attached, ie old compton, gay, berwick street, music and cheap veggies, it's got soho square but that's almost impossible to find..

soho is endlessly interesting as well, i want to know how it all started, music stores and pornography, the british film industry etc... geoffrey barnard and roland penrose. glamour, decadence, and misery. westminster council is hiking up the rents there which might kill some of it.
you know roland penroses house in soho has a huge collection of picasso sketches, he used to go there regualrly and just draw in these books.


i was gonna try and put a regular night together at a swanky but cool cocktail bar in wardour street as it goes, and invite some dissensus people down to play if they wanted to, but i don't think anyone will find it now!! :D
 

mms

sometimes
Diggedy Derek said:
With Soho, it's like the designer drew an logical, square grid of streets, and then rubbed out some of the interconnecting roads, and added a couple of tiny little streets in between. So you can't rely on certain streets crossing, and other streets are secreted within the gaps with fractal-like detail. It should be so easy, but if you go into it with a gung-ho attitude you're liable to get it in the ass (so to speak).

Dissensus-crew get lost in Soho a lot, yeah that won't stand up in court will it.

Right, enough Soho jokes from me.


ever tried finding your way out of bank station and around that area. that is impossible..
 

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
Ha, no I've been OK getting around there.

A lot re-development is happening in Soho soon, I think- the row of shops down Berwick St which includes Music And Video Exchange and Sister Ray are going to be replaced by, er, something new.
 

mms

sometimes
Diggedy Derek said:
Ha, no I've been OK getting around there.

A lot re-development is happening in Soho soon, I think- the row of shops down Berwick St which includes Music And Video Exchange and Sister Ray are going to be replaced by, er, something new.

i heard it was loft appartments, for all those poor fuckers that work in the soho media until one in the morning every night to crash down and eat takeaways in.
 

k-punk

Spectres of Mark
Funny, given Derek's jokes about Soho, but some of this reminds me of Freud's oneiric-comic description, in 'The Uncanny' of his inability to find his way out of the red light district of a 'provincial town' in Italy:

'As I was walking, one hot summer afternoon, through the deserted streets of a provincial town in Italy which was unknown to me, I found myself in a quarter of whose character I could not long remain in doubt. nothing but painted women were to be seen at the windows of the small houses, and I hastened to leave the narrow street at the next turning. But after having wandered about for a time without enquiring my way, I suddenly found myself back in the same street, where my presence was now beginning to excite attention. I hurried away once more, only to arrive by another detour at the same place yet a third time. Now, however, a feeling overcame me which I can only describe as uncanny, and I was glad enough to find myself back at the piazza I had left a short while before, without any further voyages of discovery.'

Which in turn always reminds me of pictures by De Chirico (I would post an example of one, but I don't know how to post images????, any way you've all seen em, you know what I mean....)
 

mms

sometimes
k-punk said:
Funny, given Derek's jokes about Soho, but some of this reminds me of Freud's oneiric-comic description, in 'The Uncanny' of his inability to find his way out of the red light district of a 'provincial town' in Italy:

'As I was walking, one hot summer afternoon, through the deserted streets of a provincial town in Italy which was unknown to me, I found myself in a quarter of whose character I could not long remain in doubt. nothing but painted women were to be seen at the windows of the small houses, and I hastened to leave the narrow street at the next turning. But after having wandered about for a time without enquiring my way, I suddenly found myself back in the same street, where my presence was now beginning to excite attention. I hurried away once more, only to arrive by another detour at the same place yet a third time. Now, however, a feeling overcame me which I can only describe as uncanny, and I was glad enough to find myself back at the piazza I had left a short while before, without any further voyages of discovery.'

Which in turn always reminds me of pictures by De Chirico (I would post an example of one, but I don't know how to post images????, any way you've all seen em, you know what I mean....)


de chirico reminds me of what jg ballard has been doing with his last few books too


reminding me in another way of the label from rhythm is rhythm - nude photo, the dance
from something called fixation with sensuous forms.
travelling through realms of form and desire, the people encountered seem to be trapped, one such woman saw me and i grabbbed her, trying to free her. Soon i realised she did not want to be free.By then i was trapped. The woman held me with her form. Her embrace was passionate , her form sensuous.
 

egg

Dumpy's Rusty Nut
I love walking in London. It is the king of cities.

I also think you can do 'aimless' in a car equally well. I was driving away from Camden the other week at night, trying to get home (south coast), no rush, made a few mistakes, ended up going south over London Bridge and exclaiming aloud at how amazing the riverside looked all lit up, and then fucked up again and ended up going north over Tower Bridge and shouting 'amazing! amazing!' it was so... beautiful.

London in no rush, it's wonderful.

mms - I will pm/email you about that nite.
 

mms

sometimes
egg said:
mms - I will pm/email you about that nite.


it's just an idea at the mo, got to put it to the owner properly,but she seemed fairly interested last night.
she kept on giving us free cocktails as well which was awesome.
 

luka

Well-known member
the city on a sunday is the best. any unCANNYnees amplified by the complete absence of people. no shops open. maybe a few men in hi-vis vests working on the roads, otherwise ghost town.
 

luka

Well-known member
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'With Soho, it's like the designer drew an logical, square grid of streets, and then rubbed out some of the interconnecting roads, and added a couple of tiny little streets in between. So you can't rely on certain streets crossing, and other streets are secreted within the gaps with fractal-like detail. It should be so easy, but if you go into it with a gung-ho attitude you're liable to get it in the ass (so to speak).
'

that's it exactly derek you#ve hit the nail on the head
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
Round Charing Cross Road is really nice on a Sunday morning too - no people, so you actually get to look around you. London's really beautiful when you get rid of everyone else.

The city's weird though. I find walking round there my legs get twice as knackered as anywhere else. You feel like you've walked miles sometimes but it's just a couple of blocks. Must be extra specially hard pavement or something.
 

Backjob

Well-known member
k-punk said:
Unlike the forms of exercise favoured by Kapitalism (quick energy burns in the gym so that you are fit for work the next day), walking is a form of energetic activity which has no relation to work whatsoever. Those arch opponents of work, the situationists, were correct to settle on 'aimless walking' (the derrive) as a strategy against zombie consumerism. There is no product, no goal; walking is the very defintion of a plateau.

If you're going to take a totally eurocentric view, then yeah. Where I live, walking is oppression. Every step is sweaty, sticky pain and a reminder of your lowly status as others zoom past in their air conditioned cabs. Nobody in Asia would walk anywhere unless they had to (unless you're talking temperate northern countries like Japan).

Of course me, I'm the one in the air conditioned cab so it's kind of irrelevant, but thought I'd point it out.

I think canals are the walker's secret weapon. They're these instant shortcuts that are barred to any other form of transport and they slice right through the middle of any major british city. When I lived by the canal by Victoria Park I walked everywhere. And you get all sorts of little glimpses of nature by the canal too. Like the dead eels that build up by the locks every few weeks. Anybody know why that happens?
 

k-punk

Spectres of Mark
Backjob said:
If you're going to take a totally eurocentric view, then yeah. Where I live, walking is oppression. Every step is sweaty, sticky pain and a reminder of your lowly status as others zoom past in their air conditioned cabs. Nobody in Asia would walk anywhere unless they had to (unless you're talking temperate northern countries like Japan).

So you're taking a southern asianocentric view, then? :)

Surely it's not only in Europe that walking is liberatory. I know people who live in China and they enjoy walking.

Newsflash: in the UK, every step is a reminder of your lowly status too, as ppl zoom by in their big cars. But who wants to be in the ruling class?
 
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