I drew a circle with a radius of one mile on a map and attempted to follow it, approximately speaking, in a clockwise direction. It seemed a very 'me' thing to do, indeed I was surprised I hadn't done it before.
It eventually dawned on me why I hadn't done it before which is because it's an unexpectedly long walk. A circle of radius one mile has a circumference of 2×π×1 = 6¼ miles, which is a lot further than you'd think. Add in an extra mile to walk from home to the edge of the circle and another mile to walk back at the end and that's a whopping walk of over eight miles. Worse, it's impossible to follow a precise circle in an urban location so I had to deviate quite a bit from the optimum route, especially when crossing major roads and rivers. All in all it took me just over three hours. Thankfully it was an interesting walk. And I tell you all this simply so that the following half dozen observations don't seem entirely random.
✉ Postcards from one mile from home
✉ Well this is lovely. This is Stephenson Street in Canning Town, a full-on industrial backroad specialising in waste materials. It's also the kind of street where you can set fire to a van and not expect anyone to clear it away. This burnt-out wreck does at least have a 'Council Aware' sticker on it, but it was also here when I walked past a fortnight ago and all that's happened since is that someone's dumped a toilet next to it. I also had to avoid a wrecked refrigeration unit, a slew of bricks and a forklift truck manoeuvring a cage full of crushed packaging onto the back of a van. Be aware that Stephenson Street is also part of the last stage of the official Lea Valley Walk, so maybe don't try that any time soon.
✉ That's quite a collection. This black Mitsubishi parked on Bircham Street has five penalty charge notices on its windscreen, two under one wiper and three under the other. At £130 a time these fines would be enough to pay for 600 litres of petrol, maybe a year's car insurance, possibly even a new vehicle. I tried to picture the council's parking enforcement agent walking by on a regular basis and adding yet another yellow envelope, perhaps with a smirk, perhaps with the clear understanding that nobody's ever going to pay up. This particular car's MOT expired on 15th March, just before the DfT's automatic six month extension kicked in, so I guess the owner has long given up on the vehicle... and the collection will grow further.
✉ Typical. This is Bartlett Park in Poplar (bordering the Limehouse Cut) which has been undergoing a major spruce-up over the last two years (and which should be finished by now but isn't). Here we see some unfinished building works alongside Lindfield Street, which must be yet another project encroaching on valuable recreational space, much like that jarring modern block on the far side, mumble, grumble. (goes home and does some research)
✉ Ah, OK. What they're building here are some changing rooms for local people to use, so that's fine. The jarring modern block on the far side in fact replaced some 1960s flats and now houses 60 more families. All the damage was actually done in the 1980s when the council allowed a ring of self-build housing to be constructed around St Saviour's Church, swallowing up several acres at the centre of the park in a landgrab nobody would ever permit today. Grumble less, research more.
✉ The Ragged School Museum in Mile End Park is one of a tiny handful of museums in Tower Hamlets, and is currently closed. They shut their doors back in March, a couple of weeks before they were hoping to celebrate their 30th anniversary, and (other than a bit of onlinefundraising in April) have gone utterly silent ever since. A confined building centred around a Victorian classroom was always going to struggle to reopen, however excellent its contents (and schoolma'amly staff).
✉ The Chisenhale Gallery in Bow is a small exhibition space in a former veneer factory, and is currently closed. They shut their doors in mid-March, a couple of weeks before the new director took up her post, so there's bad timing. The gallery has at least maintained a vibrant online presence, including regular newsletters and a succession of digital art pieces to view for free (I would link to one but they took down Mute Grain yesterday, sorry). If all goes to plan the Chisenhale hopes to reopen on 26th September with Becoming Alluvium, a mixed-media presentation by Thao Nguyen Phan, and in this backwater I can't believe social distancing will be a problem. Keep your fingers crossed for E3's pair of cultural treasures, just in case.
✉ You never know what you're going to see in Victoria Park. Yesterday it was topless joggers, over-amorous dogs and a film company setting up a period scene using a couple of fake Victorian streetlamps. I also passed this bloke shrieking encouragement to a pair of fitness acolytes following his instructions like their lives depended it. Part of me was impressed that the three of them were doing exercises in perfect sync, and part of me was appalled by the stream of motivational claptrap he was spouting ("let's feel energised!") ("big boost now!") ("we can do this!")). It must be tough making a living in personal fitness at the moment, but I remain amazed that some people can only exercise if someone shouts buzzwords at them and are willing to pay handsomely for the privilege.
✉ Nothing about Hackney Wick, and its descent from industrial estate to residential suburb, ought to surprise me, but I was still jolted by this scene on White Post Lane. A young father with designer sunglasses hanging from the neck of his t-shirt emerged from a coffee shop and handed a cup of artisan coffee to his partner who was wearing a smart red summer dress and watching over a baby in a posh pram while standing outside a bar offering brunch, booze and tacos. I might expect this kind of aspirational perfection in Clapham, at the far end of an Overground ride, but it seems so strange here. Over by the river an Axe Throwing Range has just opened, ideal for Stag Dos, Corporate Bookings and Casual Walk-ins, indeed they currently have a vacancy for an Axe Ranger ("No formal qualifications required") should you be gregarious and at a loose end. The gentrification threshold has been crossed, and has far to go.
