Archive for the ‘Infrastructure/construction’ Category
NEO Bankside
May 2011
‘Reshaping‘
The last month has been a drag. Various arrests and police crackdowns has nulled the wonderful spike of accomplishment we’ve had in the London scene and with the Brad:pad on it’s last legs, there’s an ‘end of an era’ vibe with most that I’ve spent time with lately. Read the rest of this entry »
Vertical Limits
April 2011
My own sense of reality struck as I harnessed up at the base of the jib. The City of London is a noisy city, sirens screaming at all hours of the day, and as Neb explained how he would lead up the crane, climb down and then allow me to top-rope up, my legs turned to jelly and cotton-wool mouth took over. As often as we big ourselves up on blogs and forums, it’s remakably easy to feel very small when faced with a new and intimidating task such as this. I withdrew, electing instead to play a supporting role in Neb’s climb by belaying for him.
Bevis Mark
March 2011
The City of London is a happy hunting ground for the ascension inclined amongst the community. Bevis Mark is undergoing ‘improvements’ in the same way that Kings Reach Tower was, and at just 9 stories, would probably be left aside if it wasn’t immediately adjacent to 30 St Mary’s Axe, AKA ‘The Gherkin’. Read the rest of this entry »
Yo Dawg
December 2010
Dan’s boiler was bust, so he stayed in to wait for the landlord. I turned up, attacked it with a hammer and it worked again. We went out to play when Neb got here, choosing to walk half a mile into a road tunnel that tastes of death. We ended up dropping from one tunnel into another, finding a tunnel reminiscient of many of the cable runs in central London.
Glitches
January 2011
A series of glitches allows the infrastructure of Paris to be accessed through various portals. Along with our ever generous host Marc, I joined Brad and L’Ottoire for some Parisien place hacking, with Dsankt, Mrs Dsankt and Olivier joining us at times across the weekend too. I use the term coined by Brad as I felt that at times we were not exploring as such; the places we were accessing had been previously ‘hacked*’ and we were enjoying the fruits of the hard work of others. On the contrary, at times we immersed ourselves in the unknown and pushed for the new, when Paris’ delights are well known to many.
*To program (a computer [a place]) for pleasure or compulsively; especially, to try to defeat the security systems and gain unauthorized access to a computer [place]. Read the rest of this entry »
Abbey Mills Pumping Station
2010, Sometime
Cathedral City
I made my way down to Abbey Mills one night with the children, following an excellent meal at some restaurant on Stratford High St, where we drank as much of the finest wine a fistfull of crumpled fivers could buy (one bottle between four). “Korsham Kidz, swigging Vodka on Westwells Road”, was the headline on the rumour-mongering 28DL months later; but we’ve been playing this game since before we’ve been walking. Read the rest of this entry »
Eagle House
August 2010
“Eagle’s fly high, but weasels don’t get caught in Jet engines”
…As I was once so succinctly told, a quote relayed from her father by a philosphical girlfriend. Not quite sure what it’s supposed to suggest? If you aim high, somebody will shaft you somewhere along the line? If you try and don’t succeed, cheat? Either way, this site was simple as pie. Back to basics, the hardest part was the 29 flights of stairs.
KRT – October 2010
The latest in a string of tall buildings in London to play on, this follows Southwark Tower, London Bridge House and Temple Court as my ‘High London’ experiences. What made this different was the ease of which it could be explored and ascended.
Marc’s 29th – November 2010
When a friend comes to London for his birthday, it’s rude not to celebrate. An excellent attendance was made by all present, a very pr0 group if ever I saw one. KRT was chosen, we all said we were busy and Marc got lonely and turned up at Danny’s, who promptly told him he had to work but could meet later. Later they met and ended up on the 29th floor (convenient), where we all waited for the man himself to party.
Marc, Danny, Brad, Chris, Zero, Siolo, Cogito, Neb, Patch, Speed, Gorbotchov, Snappel, Yaz, Bukowski, Sgt Marshall, Claire Elise, Za Gringo, Rupert Griffiths and maybe one or two others I forgot made this a night to remember.
Props to Brad, Dan and Zero for putting in the legwork to make this happen.
The Runs – April-August 2010
The sewers of London serve the city’s bowels; the nervous system is catered for by the miles of fibre optics found beneath the city in these tunnels and more. The lifeblood that keeps the city going is the cable runs, a network of subterrannean tunnels carrying gas and electrical supplies. Take any of these away and the city shuts down, just as the body does if you take away any of the functions giving life. Just as we rarely see inside the human body, we rarely see inside the city.
Map and Ladder