Archive for the ‘Gary’ tag
Porte Molitor
March 2011
Metro Chien sat patiently while Maitre-Chien chatted with Marc, disbelieving everything he was being told. “You came down the tunnels? Pas possible!” Claire Elise translated although I don’t think any of us believed that 5 minutes of scattergun French could boil down to a single sentence. Myself, Statler, Gary and Patch sat in the tunnels, backs to the wall, confused at everything that was going on. Read the rest of this entry »
Deep Level #6 – Bull and Bush
March 2011
Probably the rawest of experiences on the underground one can undertake, a tunnel run in zero clearance. Gary, Neb and myself met with Otter, who’d taken the run before on a trip with Siologen back in 2009, in those days when we all knew a lot less about the system and how it operates. A few have been back in the last couple of years, and credit is due to all who have done this – it’s definitely a mental exercise rather than a physical one.
Courage Brewery
April 2010
Fresh off the presses at the Reading Evening Post, the Town’s final B was to close. Biscuit production in the town had ceased in 1974 with the closure of Huntley and Palmers, bulbs in 1976 when Suttons’ Seeds relocated to Devon, and finally on April 2nd 2010 the Courage brewery was closed, with the production absorbed by the rest of the network. The only remnant of Reading’s industrial past was to be the buildings left behind, or a natty bar underneath the town hall bearing the name, “The Three B’s”
Deep Level #4 – South Kentish Town
February 2011
So far this evening we’d played hide and seek with both blue lights and track workers. A curtain twitcher is known to reside in an adjacent property to the access, and has called the police on ocassions. (Robbing the Cash Converters? Don’t make me laugh!) Read the rest of this entry »
Deep Level #3 – Northern City Line
February 2011
Sitting in an almost pitch black tunnel stripped of rails and sleepers, the only light we can see is from some tunnel lights barely visible through a doorway a hundred or so metres up the line. Any rustling, kicking of ballast or movement is met with a curt and whispered “shutthefuckup!” We couldn’t sit there forever, we certainly couldn’t wait until the end of the tube service.
Prohobohemia 3.4
August 2010
One more left, then I’ll finally stop writing about this trip! Again, written from the road. The best bits are fueled by some 500ml bottles of Becks. Happy days. I write a lot because I think the trip was significant in a number of ways in terms of how I view ‘Urbex’ and the lifestyles we adopt to fulfil our aspirations within our means. Hopefully this will make sense.
Playing on the Railways
December 2010
Upon finishing some Reading recces, I suggest to Gary that as we were at loose ends, we should maybe go play on the railways? The networks of rail across the country offer a lot of potential points of interest, from laid up trains, boneyards, disused tunnels and old stations in cuttings, where better to get stuck in than dicking around on some local tracks with a camera?
Target Unnamed
December 2010
Some nights you just have to travel together to a disused conference centre, play some tunes and drink beers, then sleep in a part built hotel nearby that ran out of funds after completing no more than 4 rooms, but still hadn’t turned off the electricity . Then tip-toe 9 strong around a disused art deco hospital before being chased out by a secca. Participate in the Urbania.
Lightshow
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.
