Today I decided to get out of Anatum’s Abode and extend my space exploration. I forbade myself to use any of public transport system so I was only walking.

An advantage of such an exploration is its closeness to the city as a physical entity. The city has its solid structure, it is possible to touch it, smell it, see it – in details. You realize if this physical entity is organized logically or not – you perceive its urbanistic execution. One might enjoy all the small (in)consonances,  even the tiny changes in atmosphere. The bigger ones even more of course. It is easy to stop for a while and to calmly observe some detail or to work with different speed of walking. Than your feeling is changing again – you might concentrate more on walking itself or try to absorb what surrounds you.

I realized – not for the first time of course – that city is divided into public and private spaces which leads to many difficulties for a walker (or biker, car driver … just the walker could feel the biggest discomfort as he is the slowest of these – so to overcome a wrong path takes him longer time).

Other problems for the walker might be the natural obstacles. Such as a river as I realized today. I walked cca 10 km more (! 5 km on the one side and 5 more when coming back on the other) than I planned because during my walk around the river there was no possible crossing (not counting Emirate Air Lines or Thames Clippers for which you have to pay). So I just walked and walked, looking for an underpath or bridge…and for quite a time there was no such a thing.

For more thoughts about walking and exploring the city see my further posts.
Good night 🙂
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