This blog post is an excerpt from my research recces, part of my process of scouting for locations, mapping Derby and having a psychogeographic approach to how my narrative is formed. There were 18 points in all and the recce took 1hr 26mins

Recce A

(A Very Planned Scouting Walk On Paper)

Wednesday 16/10/2019
Temp: 13°C, Sunny
Start Time: 03:43pm
Start Point: Albert Street (Green Point)

[A0] East Street :
The middle of town was sunny. So sunny it was like walking in white light that makes you feel like you could be walking in the darkness because either way, you’re still blind. I am hesitant because I don’t know if I’m going left or right yet and I’m just having one of those days as well. Turns out the way was just straight ahead.

[A1] Post Office:
Maybe it was the light but I completely passed it. I think the post office was inside the shopping center and one dare not go in there for fear of not actually surviving the masses.

[A2] Green Ln:
Again, completely missed it. Not for the sheer panic of navigating wrongly nor overthinking but because the road naturally leads you forwards when you are on foot and my lost spirit seems more in tune with being efficient than when I try to navigate purposefully.

[A3] Macklin Ln (part 1):
Walkers, the abandoned theatre or music hall which is now taken over by the trees and nature’s natural forces. I’m sitting on a little step, next to the sea-green tiles and plants that are eating the sea from the inside. The passer-by gives me strange looks as they walk by.  There seems to be a lot of crying babies out for a walk today as two of them cross each other in prams, wailing to out wail the other. There is some graffiti in an alcove that used to be a window but is boarded up with steel from the inside. It says ;

“Get out while you can.”

[A3] Macklin Ln (Part 2):

There are yellow accents everywhere I look. In the sunlight coming through the leaves on the trees in an arc to a tunnel. In the walls that look like they will take you to the Land of Oz. On the windows of the Cantonese restaurant, I walk by. The men walking by, talk of revolutions that they had already talked about and thought about saying they have said ‘ the exact same thing for years now, it’s all been in my head this whole time.’ No idea is new yet it is the person behind its form that makes it new. I pass the hotel with no flags, only empty flag poles, and broken glass. There is no reason for them anymore

[A4] Beckett Street :

Family funeral services and parking lots are rusting away. Strange how the home of the dead can look so new. 3 minutes past four someone shouts on Macklin Rd. Four O’clock and pairs of lovers on every turn of this street. But no, not love in their eyes there is something else. There is something else that makes them look a little bit crazed and makes them look at me like a foreign bacteria. I don’t quite have that same dazed glazed look they have between their pupils. I walk quickly.

[A4] Bramley St:

I decide not to go down Bramley St. Even though it is the middle of the day with the glorious sun melting down its buttery rays onto this cold land, there are times when you just need to listen to your gut and this is one of them. Also, I miss the turning in a little rush of panic and speed walking. The eyes watching me are making me nervous, seizing me up without realizing it.

[A6 & A7] Curzon St & Cheapside

I’m somewhere in between Curzon and Cheapside- on a bench outside the art gallery. Opposite me, there are builders laughing and having a smoke. The street is open and full of life and traffic. I feel better about it. The builders are watching me but it’s different. Curiosity and intention always look different on blue eyes. 

[A8] Bold Ln

Nothing Bold to report, unfortunately, basically Britain in a street. Bricks, people and nothing discernible except for an estates man, dressed in the standard navy blue jumpsuit standing out of the exit of the building I presume he works in. His white hair stands out in the dull brick streets and he smiles at me as he takes a drag of his cigarette. He gave me a little hope.

[A9] Jury St/St.Marys Street

The Justice Center sits proudly amidst her renovation. There are many flag poles, all adorned with the union jack, proudly billowing in the wind. It’s as though they heard me back on Macklin St.  Patriotism is an interesting thing. Funny how we forget we are all humans. Here we are, waving our flags proudly for the country we come from and then back on Macklin St. is the hotel that represents the world- derelict and forgotten. Flag poles empty forever. Jury and Justice- even Candour. You can feel it on the street. Back to the walk and the road meanders. The sunshine makes it less monotonous.