Friday 26 August 2022

4om

Start at the footbridge

flanked by

Allan Park Drive and

Craiglockhart Ave

A footbridge

flanked

by big rounf

industrial popes

either side

And another of Amanda Thomson’s

plaques

This one about bird life

in 1845

It is on the otherside of

the canal, not the tow

path side

Discovered because I exited

there yesterday and

entered there today

A hidden place

became revealed

Though “hidden places”

are only hidden to

some of us

Raining today

windless

Thought it could be

quiet, found it

very busy

People

• walking dogs
• walking babies
• some in hiking gear, rucksacks, boats and poles. How far have they come, how far will they go.
• a man in conversation with himself
• a reluctant dog as a her owner counts his steps
• someone who likes my shoes and has a pair, the very same
• rowers and canoeists
• barge travellers
• joggers
• cyclists, so many cyclists
• and the boy who fishes there – we smile and say hello. Our 3rd encounter

And as I sit on a wall, the rain says “rain bathing” and smiles

This is such a friendly place

of sharing space

at different speeds

for many different reasons

Me moving there

Experiencing things

through my body

Is neither here or there

And certainly accepted

Perhaps we even

look out for each

other in an

unobtrusive way

setting an

unspoken code of

conduct and ways

of being

I wonder what the

deeper valves of

this work is

and what is it we need

to do in the realities

of now

If we live differently

in our bodies

might we live

differently in

the world?

What does it mean

to activate the

senses of touch

and smell and

movement as well

as what we see

and hear

The tangible sensations

of things

Physical knowings of

a place

The way that one

is present to

spaces and places

and people

Living differently

Being the change

I am filled to the

brim with the sense

of this place

What does it mean

to “measure” things

by means of one’s

body and movement

to know a place this way

As Richard Sennets says

“The organisation of

bodily sensation

influences enormously

how people behave

in cities and also

influences the

spaces they make.”

Day 13 and I’m

beginning to get

what he means

the rhythm of the

rowers now lives in

my body

The warmth of stone

slippery surfaces

in the rain

The feel of a ‘cats eye’

light on the tarmac

The casters that gleam

in the wet

the train that goes

under the canal

the freedom here

to be

the softness of moss

the underneath of

things

The profound

graffiti everywhere

speaking to

these times

Handwritten words

or stickers posted

on signs

and surfaces

The invitations

of a place

Is this enough

and more than enough

When enough

is enough

in these times?

NEXT ENCOUNTER:

11am Saturday 27th August 2022

Bridge No. 3

Gray’s Loan off Ashley Terrace

on the other side