Midnight walks

It's 1am and the four of us are wandering around Gloucestershire. We end up at the A40 and cross the bridge, the moon watches us- glowing like white molten iron. I cannot help but appreciate the landscape before me. The motorway was silent and empty; like a dead man's walk to the grave. Despite how sinister the atmosphere was, the silence was also comforting. It was so intriguing because it was different to how you would normally expect a motorway, chaotic and noisy. 

From this midnight walk I discovered the power of time, a human construct designed to control our daily lives- our whole routines work around the clock literally. As a result, this manmade construct also controls the atmosphere of the landscape, the periods it is utilized most and when it gets abandoned such as night time. 

 

Walk #2 (22/10/2020)

Walking on the route from Pittville Park to Overton Park (near Cheltenham Ladies College Sports Centre) was not enjoyable for me. It almost felt like a sheltered green bypass, I could hear and see some of the traffic congestion and buzz of people going by while feeling isolated from it simultaneously. 

One aspect I did admire was the part of the route on Honeybourne road where there was a bridge, I felt elevated from having the advantage point of looking down at vehicles. The viewpoint change also made me feel exposed, cars from the distance would be able to see me walking across. Aside from the continuous change in height levels, the space also felt enclosed making me feel smaller- I did not like this at all. The dark greenery made the enclosed path feel ever so smaller and narrower, almost drowning myself out. 

However, I feel as though it provided a great enough experience for people walking along this route to  have a strong opinion about it. The experience grabs you because of the changing space over the period of the walk and because of this, it is an enticing route regardless of my personal opinion. 

Take a seat and drink up

It's warm. 

The cushioned seating, dark wooden interior, low lighting and hot cup of coffee awaiting you at the end of the counter.

The hissing of the milk frother,

whispers of juicy gossip,

clattering of plates from children playing,

The snap back of the cash register closing,

dog paws skidding across the hard wooden flooring,

CRUNCH as people bite into their crispy toasties,

The final "hello, what can I get you today?" 

Working as a barista  is not just serving coffees. It's a sociable role enquiring you to make a public space feel homely, for you to entertain people with enough small talk to put a smile on their face. If someone's being a little grumpy you communicate through common ground, ground coffee. The most rewarding part of the job is seeing people inhale the coffee aroma and take a big gulp of the bitter hot liquid that gets them ready for a long days work. 

Urban street art

Coming from a diverse and creative city (Birmingham) I did not expect a small little noble town like Cheltenham to have such loud street art. To me, all of these pieces of artwork speak volumes politically and yes there are a few political pieces in Birmingham but none like these. In Cheltenham they use simplicity to convey their message, much like William Blake does in his poem 'London.' I think it is done deliberately in order to avoid any miscommunication in the message that is trying to be made. 

My interpretations:

The first image has two identical apes with the same facial expression, the only difference being the tone of their skin. Recently black lives matter has been a huge movement spread across the globe, for this reason I believe it is to say "me and you are the same" despite the colour of your skin we are one. The facial expressions of the apes give me the semantic field of determination, rage, fight and a sense of unity from the mirroring. Additionally, I think it is no accident this artwork was spray painted behind the tree, it is almost to say "we're coming out now, we're finally speaking up" as the light hits the tree and the shade sparsely covers both images. 

The second image just looks like a happy monkey with an almost brain explosion? Either that or he is high on weed, hence the green colour orrr a natural high? I'm not too sure but I admire the ambiguity. 

The third is a spray painting of Jennifer Lawrence, this painting caught my eye a few times. The tones of the blue make her seem like a pool of water, or maybe a mirror reflection? It's a sad serene image but is simultaneously beautiful. To me it represents classical femininity, a sensitive heart with a bold confidence and simple beauty used as a façade for the silent suffering, implied by her hands masking her face. 

The fourth is my favourite, it is loud and clear geo-politically speaking. The features resemble more of an orangutan which we know are suffering as a direct consequence from the over use of palm oil. The art piece is almost mocking politicians by suggesting no matter how you calculate it, the only solution is to use less oil so there is no need for people on tall chairs to argue about it, instead they should act on using less oil. 

The fifth made me laugh despite my unfortunate circumstances of being drenched in the harsh rain while holding a bag of cement in one hand and a heavy bag of Tesco's shopping in the other, not to mention the fact that I did not know which bus to get home. From the contrast in colour and character of drawing one could infer it's difficult to have fun nowadays. There are too many laws and regulations, from the early 2000s it was common to see children playing footie across a street, now it is seen as dangerous and an 'interference.' This is totally the wrong mindset to have, it limits young peoples creativity and puts us all in a monotonous box.