Walking in the city

[Rambler]

Most of the time walking in London, actually I feel pretty damn superior to the mugs sat in their cars going nowhere in traffic.

 

[hmg]

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?

Cycling is redemption. I had to leave London because cycling shrank the place so much and there was nowhere left to go on my trusty steed. Having a big electric motor laced into the front wheel didn't help.

 

[luka]

i've got a bike but i'm too scared to ride it. the traffic intimidates me. i need someone to coax me out.

 

[Backjob]

Buy a helmet.

 

[luka]

so when they find me lying in the path of oncoming traffic with a broken neck i'll look stupid as well as dead.

 

[bun-u]

so when they find me lying in the path of oncoming traffic with a broken neck i'll look stupid as well as dead.

The canal towpaths are good for cycling* and there are some good cyclepaths between stratford and hackney, which you might already know

*don't do when drunk though

 

[Woebot]

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.

(resurrecting this old thread)

Walking *is* very good exercise.

People should walk more.

 

[sufi]

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 ---

for me old st roundabout is like this, regardless of having been there so many times, i still always find my sense of direction is off by about 90 degrees - heading south when i should be west, east when i think i'm going north,

i harbour a suspicion that there is some juju involved

 

[Dusty]

I adore walking through London, as a proper country person who has to contend with The Bugs home town of Weymouth, with all of its three streets - I find the size of it endlessly fascinating.

I keep promising myself that when I have a bit of spare cash and time I'll just book myself into some lowly hotel and spend a long weekend on my own doing nothing but exploring properly with a camera. Of course it never happens.

 

[john eden]

Two of the things Iain Sinclair identified after the 7/7 bomb:

a) Many people in London do not wear suitable footwear for walking (primarily women I guess)
b) Many people who work in London have no clue where they are without the help of the tube map.

It's a cliche that tourists will get the tube one stop when it's far quciker to walk, but this is also true of commuters. Every time there's a tube strike or similar you see people wandering around by Bank station or Liverpool Street completely confused - and they are there every day.

 

[john eden]

Plus it amazes me that people will queue up for 15 minutes to get a bus which they then travel on for two stops. Happens every morning...

 

[Leo]

Plus it amazes me that people will queue up for 15 minutes to get a bus which they then travel on for two stops. Happens every morning...

i've seen people get on the local bus, ride for a half-dozen blocks and get off to go to the gym!! they can run on the treadmill for 30 minutes but god forbid walk down the street for 5 minutes.

 

[woops]

moved

 

[Mr. Tea]

i've seen people get on the local bus, ride for a half-dozen blocks and get off to go to the gym!! they can run on the treadmill for 30 minutes but god forbid walk down the street for 5 minutes.

I've heard of gyms in America that have escalators...

 

[nomadthethird]

I've heard of gyms in America that have escalators...

I've known people who have never walked anywhere, because they have 3 cars.

But they also lived in Wyoming.

It's a big country. With lots of wide open spaces.

Leo, the worst are the people who bring their bikes onto bus...

 

[Tony Flavourmore]

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.

this quote has haunted me for a while now, what book is it from?

 

[Mr. Tea]

this quote has haunted me for a while now, what book is it from?

Maybe it actually just happened to mms while he was pootling to the corner shop for a pint of milk one day?

 

[john eden]

Lots of walking during the Olympics. I showed a colleague my route back to Liverpool Street tonight.

City's getting hot. Pavements getting full. Tubes getting fuller.

 

[Leo]

didn't plan it this way but will be in town soon. arrive heathrow on the 10th and immediately get a train to the midlands (hopefully the east midlands train strike will be over). wonder how long it will take a taxi to get from paddington to euston station? maybe i should walk.

back in london for a few days immediately after the olympics, hopefully the tube and sidewalks will better by then.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I'm really glad to be out of east London right now.

The city I'm in at the moment can't hold a candle to LDN of course but it is nice getting around by bike, and being able to afford to live by myself right in the centre where the nice bars and restaurants are.