When I visit a town or city, I love just wandering… it’s great to go to particular sites or places of interest but it’s also interesting just to wander. It gives a sense of the place, of the people who live here all the time, because that’s what identifies a town or city, not the famous site or well-known landmark, or tourist attraction.
I love going to places with friends, but I also like being on my own and just drifting around, sometimes to stop somewhere, pause and just watch and listen. I don’t mean I’m eavesdropping on conversations, I mean the sounds of the place itself, the echoes and resonance of traffic of buildings, or the silence if there is no traffic, the way the wind whistles round corners or whispers through trees and bushes in parks or along riverbanks or canal sides and of course all the sounds of water in a city – boats, birds, echoes…
I look up when I’m walking; in the past builders and architects were as interested in the appearance of the top of the building as street level, and I’ve spotted all sorts of interesting brickwork, statuary, plaster mouldings.
In the photo a day site I’m on the theme for this weekend is street view… here’s one:
Lois Elsden 