Most recent edit on 2006-07-28 04:11:29 by LottieChild
Additions:
We then decided to walk along central park in order to look for places to plant vegetables or trees guerrilla gardening style this resulted in a critique of the management of the park and the wisdom of an permanent irrigation system for the Ivy that dominates the beds there. To plant vegetables in the flowerbeds around here there needs to be enough water and untended ground to make this viable. Our route to the park was guided by what Rich called ‘desire lines’. Places where people have walked across beds planted with Ivy to reveal the vital knowledge that eluded planners when designing the area that is the most direct routes to and from the station.
The areas of grass in central park were wonderfully lush and quite diverse. Evidence of strimming the edges may have been the sign of less than sensitive care of the plant life. Any covert vegetables wouldn’t stand a chance against decapitation here. The drinking water fountain isn’t functioning properly; pressing back the smooth metal structure creates a gentle dribble i doubt most people have the desire for intimacy with aluminium needed to suck a few drops of moisture form the brushed metal. Issues of water use, soil and plant life converge here, more on that later.
Deletions:
We then decided to walk along central park in order to critique the management of green spaces this came up because Rich offered me some young oak trees to plant guerrilla gardening style. I plan to plant vegetables in the flowerbeds around here, I wanted to be sure there was enough water and untended ground to make this viable. Our route to the park was guided by what Rich called ‘desire line’. Places where people have walked across beds planted with Ivy to reveal the vital knowledge that eluded planners when designing the area that is the most direct routes to and from the station.
Looking at the Ivy beds we saw the irrigation system nestling in it. We both questioned the sense in watering ivy. The areas of grass in central park were wonderfully lush and quite diverse. Evidence of strimming the edges may have been the sign of less than sensitive care of the plant life. Any covert vegetables wouldn’t stand a chance against decapitation here. The drinking water fountain isn’t functioning properly; pressing back the smooth metal structure creates a gentle dribble i doubt most people have the desire for intimacy with aluminium needed to suck a few drops of moisture form the brushed metal. Issues of water use, soil and plant life converge here, more on that later.
Edited on 2006-07-28 04:06:06 by LottieChild
Additions:
Rich reflected on his wanderings as a privilege, he said he is often out in the evening, can go anywhere without worry. But by no means everyone can go for a walk. I would change what Solnit says slightly, it seems to me that we need a body ‘not too hindered’ by illness or social restraint. To varying degrees, we all live with illness and constraint. To muster the will to begin a walk may go some way to working with and moving beyond the limits these states impose on us. Perhaps a good way to engage with a place is as you are. Rather than needing special skills or special clothing: wearing heels, any disability or a child with a tummy ache require that you find your own ways to move, be in a locality, to meet your own challenges and victories.
Deletions:
Rich reflected on his wanderings as a privilege, he said he is often out in the evening, can go anywhere without worry. But by no means everyone can go for a walk. I would change what Solnit says slightly, it seems to me that we need a body ‘not too hindered’ by illness or social restraint. To varying degrees, we all live with illness and constraint. To muster the will to begin a walk may go some way to working with and moving beyond the limits these states impose on us. Perhaps a good way to engage with a place is as you are. Rather than needing special skills or special clothing: wearing heels, having a hangover or a child with a tummy ache require that you find your own ways to move, be in a locality, to meet your own challenges and victories.
Edited on 2006-06-23 02:14:41 by LottieChild
Additions:
Rich Sylvester is an historian and story teller he does guided walks in Greenwich, contact Rich by email richs@onetel.com to book.
Deletions:
Rich does wonderful guided walks in Greenwich, the next one is 11th June contact Rich by email richs@onetel.com to book.
Edited on 2006-05-22 21:56:30 by LottieChild
Additions:
Rich does wonderful guided walks in Greenwich, the next one is 11th June contact Rich by email richs@onetel.com to book.
Edited on 2006-05-20 11:13:37 by LottieChild
Additions:
He picked a tiny bright pink vetch flower and said if I put this on the board and later we could rememebr that we sat on the hill, listening to the sound of the birds singing, gradually people coming back from work walked to their cars until in the end there were no more cars left. We identified the song of a blackbird impersonating a lorry reversing. I liked this as an indication of the way manmade and natural urban and rural can’t be prized apart but are intricately fused together in perpetual process. It was a great place to sit, we had the view of a large mound of earth covered with grass and weeds, and on our left the Millennium Motel that is now legendary in my mind a real gem, with people living in vehicles. I asked rich if he felt that before an area is developed there was more scope for autonomous activity, the perhaps the rules are relaxed a bit before the transformation. We came back to that later he told me that there are three? Security firms working in the area, which is funny coz there seems little to police. I do remember two security guards gleefully telling me off for locking my bike to the wrong thing, a few weeks ago. There was a story connected to that which I don’t think we got very far with, our conversation was going off in so many directions. Rich suggested we walk down to the water’s edge. He mentioned that it was low tide. By the water there was a line of flotsam and jetsam we clambered over a stack of thin branches that had been nuzzled up the beach by the tide. He said they make a fire together on the beach at the end of his story telling/workshops. He showed me some of the objects he has found on the beach including clay pipe fragments and a coconut. I’d seen one by the water further down in a previous recce We talked about a possible ‘source of the coconuts’ he thought maybe it was Southall as an Indian tradition is to place a coconut in the river in honour of someone we can’t be with either because they are far away or they’ve died. Then a moment of silence between us, at the water’s edge in the cooling air surrounded by displaced undergrowth, plants and objects in a chaos produced by the constantly shifting water. We walked on crunchy debris Rich mentioned that the people on his walks may be wearing heels. I was wearing delicate leather slippers in gold covered in sequins. This lead us to talk of the freedom to wander as a privilege and a quote from Rebecca Solnit’s Book Wanderlust came to mind. “There are three prerequisites to taking a walk- that is, to going out into the world to walk for pleasure. One must have free time, a place to go, and a body unhindered by illness or social restraints”
Deletions:
He picked a tiny bright pink vetch flower and said if I put this on the board and later we could rememebr that we sat on the hill, listening to the sound of the birds singing, gradually people coming back from work walked to their cars until in the end there were no more cars left. We identified the song of a blackbird impersonating a lorry reversing. I liked this as an indication of the way manmade and natural urban and rural can’t be prized apart but are intricately fused together in perpetual process. It was a great place to sit, we had the view of a large mound of earth covered with grass and weeds, and on our left the Millennium Motel that is now legendary in my mind a real gem, with people living in vehicles. I asked rich if he felt that before an area is developed there was more scope for autonomous activity, the perhaps the rules are relaxed a bit before the transformation. We came back to that later he told me that there are three? Security firms working in the area, which is funny coz there seems little to police. I do remember two security guards gleefully telling me off for locking my bike to the wrong thing, a few weeks ago. There was a story connected to that which I don’t think we got very far with, our conversation was going off in so many directions. Rich suggested we walk down to the water’s edge. He mentioned that it was low tide. By the water there was a line of flotsam and jetsam we clambered over a stack of thin branches that had been nuzzled up the beech by the tide. He said they make a fire together on the beach at the end of his story telling/workshops. He showed me some of the objects he has found on the beach including clay pipe fragments and a coconut. I’d seen one by the water further down in a previous recce We talked about a possible ‘source of the coconuts’ he thought maybe it was Southall as an Indian tradition is to place a coconut in the river in honour of someone we can’t be with either because they are far away or they’ve died. Then a moment of silence between us, at the water’s edge in the cooling air surrounded by displaced undergrowth, plants and objects in a chaos produced by the constantly shifting water. We walked on crunchy debris Rich mentioned that the people on his walks may be wearing heels. I was wearing delicate leather slippers in gold covered in sequins. This lead us to talk of the freedom to wander as a privilege and a quote from Rebecca Solnit’s Book Wanderlust came to mind. “There are three prerequisites to taking a walk- that is, to going out into the world to walk for pleasure. One must have free time, a place to go, and a body unhindered by illness or social restraints”
Oldest known version of this page was edited on 2006-05-17 01:05:45 by LottieChild []
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Recap - Walk with Rich Sylvester
I went for a walk with Rich Sylvester yesterday. We met a North Greenwich tube and bought tea at the snack stand. He then led me to a grass hill quite near the water. I told him I’m compiling a guided tour and booklet combining people’s stories, thoughts and ways of seeing the local area. That I wanted to talk with him, find shared interests and see the places hear the things he’s really excited about. He explained the idea of story sticks, he uses them on a walk with children he to collect things along the way and that later remind them of where they have been allowing them to create a story from it. This is inspired by Australian aboriginal tradition.
He picked a tiny bright pink vetch flower and said if I put this on the board and later we could rememebr that we sat on the hill, listening to the sound of the birds singing, gradually people coming back from work walked to their cars until in the end there were no more cars left. We identified the song of a blackbird impersonating a lorry reversing. I liked this as an indication of the way manmade and natural urban and rural can’t be prized apart but are intricately fused together in perpetual process. It was a great place to sit, we had the view of a large mound of earth covered with grass and weeds, and on our left the Millennium Motel that is now legendary in my mind a real gem, with people living in vehicles. I asked rich if he felt that before an area is developed there was more scope for autonomous activity, the perhaps the rules are relaxed a bit before the transformation. We came back to that later he told me that there are three? Security firms working in the area, which is funny coz there seems little to police. I do remember two security guards gleefully telling me off for locking my bike to the wrong thing, a few weeks ago. There was a story connected to that which I don’t think we got very far with, our conversation was going off in so many directions. Rich suggested we walk down to the water’s edge. He mentioned that it was low tide. By the water there was a line of flotsam and jetsam we clambered over a stack of thin branches that had been nuzzled up the beech by the tide. He said they make a fire together on the beach at the end of his story telling/workshops. He showed me some of the objects he has found on the beach including clay pipe fragments and a coconut. I’d seen one by the water further down in a previous recce We talked about a possible ‘source of the coconuts’ he thought maybe it was Southall as an Indian tradition is to place a coconut in the river in honour of someone we can’t be with either because they are far away or they’ve died. Then a moment of silence between us, at the water’s edge in the cooling air surrounded by displaced undergrowth, plants and objects in a chaos produced by the constantly shifting water. We walked on crunchy debris Rich mentioned that the people on his walks may be wearing heels. I was wearing delicate leather slippers in gold covered in sequins. This lead us to talk of the freedom to wander as a privilege and a quote from Rebecca Solnit’s Book Wanderlust came to mind. “There are three prerequisites to taking a walk- that is, to going out into the world to walk for pleasure. One must have free time, a place to go, and a body unhindered by illness or social restraints”
Rich reflected on his wanderings as a privilege, he said he is often out in the evening, can go anywhere without worry. But by no means everyone can go for a walk. I would change what Solnit says slightly, it seems to me that we need a body ‘not too hindered’ by illness or social restraint. To varying degrees, we all live with illness and constraint. To muster the will to begin a walk may go some way to working with and moving beyond the limits these states impose on us. Perhaps a good way to engage with a place is as you are. Rather than needing special skills or special clothing: wearing heels, having a hangover or a child with a tummy ache require that you find your own ways to move, be in a locality, to meet your own challenges and victories.
We then decided to walk along central park in order to critique the management of green spaces this came up because Rich offered me some young oak trees to plant guerrilla gardening style. I plan to plant vegetables in the flowerbeds around here, I wanted to be sure there was enough water and untended ground to make this viable. Our route to the park was guided by what Rich called ‘desire line’. Places where people have walked across beds planted with Ivy to reveal the vital knowledge that eluded planners when designing the area that is the most direct routes to and from the station.
I told Rich about the walk I took with children aged 6 and 7 from millennium primary school looking for trees to climb and the ideal tree for a tree house. The kids had appraised the suitability of trees around their school, identifying the building of a platform as a good method and a willow tree between their school and the ecology park as a possible host. Most of the newly planted trees are too small and young to sustain a structure and Rich suggested another possibility, of collecting large lengths of driftwood and lashing them between small trees to create a platform. He mentioned using a collar under the ropes to protect the bark. We paced the distance between trees and Rich felt sure we’d be able to get the right kind of timber.
Looking at the Ivy beds we saw the irrigation system nestling in it. We both questioned the sense in watering ivy. The areas of grass in central park were wonderfully lush and quite diverse. Evidence of strimming the edges may have been the sign of less than sensitive care of the plant life. Any covert vegetables wouldn’t stand a chance against decapitation here. The drinking water fountain isn’t functioning properly; pressing back the smooth metal structure creates a gentle dribble i doubt most people have the desire for intimacy with aluminium needed to suck a few drops of moisture form the brushed metal. Issues of water use, soil and plant life converge here, more on that later.
We then went to the location of the old allotments, a breathtakingly lush biodiverse acre, surrounded by roads and concrete. Again we followed in the footsteps of local experts, the foxes traversing of the place had made visible paths in the long grass. The evening light was waning and we could make out the song of a lark merging with the traffic’s roar.
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