cattles.eagles.critic

So section 22 and it is a dull and quite chilly morning, even threatening to rain a bit. The park is mainly full of dog walkers, all throwing balls and just strolling around whilst the dogs just chase around. Some seem to know each other, they must see one another most days and they become dog walking friends who are separate from any other part of their lives. With your dog walking friend you can be whoever you like as they will never know you as anything else. There was what I thought was a family but seems to be 2 childminders with 4 small children being walked around like the dogs, on their reins and then occasionally let off to run around. They are going into the bush in my section to see what they can find, insects, plants or just dirt. One has found some nettles so there is quite a bit of crying too.

I enjoyed today, it was cool and the park was just pottering. I waved at someone I knew and then my lovely friend, who lives just round the corner turned up with 2 mugs of coffee and a croissant. So we sat on the bench and chatted, about the park and the people and so much more. Despite the fact we are surrounded by roads that are busy town roads with lots of activity it feels like we are sitting in a peaceful environment which make your heart feel happy. You wonder what does go on in all the houses that surround us though, so many different people overlooking and watching. Also the CCTV camera, what does that tell us?

This section was green and not too full of litter, except around the bench where it is cigarette end city. Are they litter? I guess loads of people just don’t think so..

Today I saw: 1 tree, 1 bench, 1 bin, 1 lamppost, 1 CCTV pole, 2 dogs, 2 dog walkers (there were more, 7, in the whole park), 1 hooded crow, 28 pieces of litter, 100’s of cigarette ends, buttercups, clover, dandelion clock, little bluebell flowers, galls on the sycamore leaves.

pops.dairy.skills

So section 21 and the start of part 2. I definitely feel this park does have two very different halves and the second half is much busier and fuller, so we will see. Today however that isn’t necessarily true. The park is very quiet despite it being 2pm when I would expect to see a lot of people but I think because there are no students and perhaps the locals don’t know this yet. We are in a sort of no mans land. I think it will get busier, well we will see. The people that are in here are dog walkers, 5 dogs and 7 walkers, and some people sitting on benches having a quick coffee. For most of them, it is quick. One minute they are there then the next minute I look again and they have gone. There are also people just walking through so everything is very transient and seems to change minute to minute. Apart from one family with a young child, I would struggle to say who was there as they just disappear like magic.

The weather is warm and still, something like the Badminton Game I talked about the other day by David Inshaw and this adds to the feeling of magic and sense of unreality that is around. It’s like the start of a book, an uneventful day, where everyone is just going about their business but something is about to happen, something that will shock this community. So what will that be?

Today I saw: 2 trees, a wall, decomposing leaves, 1 blackbird, 11 pieces of rubbish (including cigarette ends), 7 feathers, 2 tree roots, spiderweb, grass, clover, buttercups and daisies, path.

Magma.waddle.cards

So today we are in section 20 and we are halfway. We are next to the boundary and near the college. Today is a beautiful day, with lovely blue skies and it is just about midday. I had expected the park to be full of students laying about but it is actually quite empty. The only people sitting on the benches are a few older couples and some of the regulars. I find out that apparently the college has finished after exams so there are no students in the college. That means from now on we will see the park in a different way. I have said before that some people can find the large groups of students a little intimidating, although they generally are not doing anything but sit about, chat and play music, but there are often large numbers taking up all the benches. So it will be interesting to see who I will see, will more people appear, different people? Also what will the rubbish levels be like? Better, the same, worse? There were three litter pickers in their high vis today, volunteers I think.

The litter today was hard was to keep track of, mainly because there was a bench and there were massive amounts again despite the bin being 6 feet away. I struggled to photograph it all.
I saw: at least 55 pieces of rubbish (including 2 combs, a glasses lens and 2 forks), 100s of cigarette ends, 4 feathers, 1 buried tree stump, 2 trees, 1 bench, 1 bin, grass, clover, buttercups, fallen leaves by the wall, wall, path.

There was one dog with his walker, walking through. Mainly people were just walking through today, but slowly just taking it all in as they walked. A lovely, leafy detour into town.

spare.moth.desire

Section 19 and we are nearly halfway! Today was cloudy and dull, weather wise. The park had a consistent amount of people in it and there were even people playing tennis on the tennis courts. It was a mixture of people, an elderly couple sitting on a bench and then people with children playing. One couple (grandparents) were with a little boy, evidently called Arthur as they kept shouting his name in encouragement as he was riding his bike with no stabilisers. His little sister, Judy, was on her scooter and spent quite a bit of time riding with Chloe encouraging her whilst on her own scooter. Another little girl was also learning to ride without stabilisers and Chloe was like a coach next to her shouting from her scooter, ‘you can do it’, ‘keep going’ and other such things. There were also a few groups of what my father would call ‘youths’ meaning he wasn’t very keen and thought them to be potential troublemakers. I think this is a common thing of this park that groups of teenagers, not students, can gather and for a lot of people it seems intimidating. There are also a couple of dog walkers. One is in my section, much to Chloe’s delight and is called Max.

Things in this area: 1 small tree, lots of paths, bush with flowers and leaves and thistles and nettles, fly, insect eggs, cuckoo spit, 1 dog poo, 25 pieces of rubbish, lots of cigarette ends, grass, buttercups, clover, daisies, 1 tree stump.

treat.plates.healthier

Section 18, page 18 – Drizzle is definitely the word of the day. Yesterday was rain but today was drizzle and it was really dull and miserable. It is Saturday afternoon and if we compare it to last Saturday then it is so different. There is no one in the park, just people using it as a walk through. One couple are attempting a snog on a bench but soon give up. There are dog walkers although not in my section. In fact in total I see 7 dog walkers and 8 dogs, including 1 St. Bernard and a Jack Russell that seems to hop around instead of walk.

I am pretty much near the middle of the park now so things will change as the bottom half of the park is busier and fuller of greenery and trees.

today I see: 11 pieces of rubbish (including 1 condom), no feathers, 1 lamppost, lots of path, lots of grass, roses, brambles, 1 fly, nettles, clover, buttercups, daisies, dandelions, 1 pigeon.

Whilst I was taking a photos a man came along, interested in what I was photographing in the horrible weather. He was a local, and a keen train photographer and model railway builder, so he and his wife had moved to a house near the park with a large attic suitable for a substantial railway layout. Not long moved in he was enthusiastic about the green and the community in it. He was carrying a litter picker so was on a mission to keep the green, green.

Hogs.nights.youth

Day 17, section 17 – I loved being in the park today. It was wet and cold and I was initially the only person there. It was my personal park. A few people did walk through on their way into town, but only because I allowed them into my park. There were a lot of pigeons in the park today, probably because there were no dogs but possibly because they are the missing racing pigeons that have gone missing on their way to the North East. I must admit I didn’t try to catch one to see if they were tagged or not. The park feels so different when quiet and wet. It feels like a little green space of paradise in the middle of town that not many people have discovered. Let’s just hope they don’t pave it and put up a parking lot!

On days like this when the park is quiet then you are more aware of the community around the park. All the houses that overlook this space, which I know have their own WhatsApp group, are like a story happening within a story. With everyone entering the park or living next to the park and looking at it having their own story that you can see being put together in a film or novel. There are so many regulars who love this space and who spend different parts of their life here. Through relaxation, exercise, sadness, joy, romance and so much more. There is an epic being played out here in this small little space.

In the space today I saw: 1 tree, I bush, at least 1 pigeon in a tree, 5 pieces of rubbish, 1 nettle, thistles, grass.

Anyway back to reality and I have a bush right in the centre of my space today. As I get nearer to the other end of the park I will have more and more obstacles to deal with!

I said that I would give you the three little words that apply to this section, which are at the top of this blog and today, I feel they are strangely appropriate – Now you can take your own panoramic photo from the same spot.

Hogs.nights.youth

games.luck.insist

Today was a warm, quite muggy day with some cloud. It’s about 2pm and the park has lots of different people in it. There are 3 students with their dog, Wilbur, on the bench in this section. They are very relaxed and nothing like I was as a student at their age. I was so unsure of myself and terrified of life. They seem cool and confident or maybe it’s just hidden more? Wilbur is certainly very cute.

Whilst I was talking, 2 more dogs with their walkers came through the section but Wilbur seemed very territorial of his bench so barked quite a lot at them as they walked through. No one else really stopped in the section, just walked through going into town. The houses and roads around were busy. There were builders, who were playing their radio at one point, and lots of cars as you can probably hear from the video. There were a few people laid out, seemingly asleep, in the park. This isn’t something I have seen before so shows how relaxed people are feeling now.

Besides these people I saw:1 tree, 1 bench (with 3 people and a dog), 2 dogs and 2 dog walkers, 1 bee, I fly (on poo), 3 dog poos, 1 bin, 1000s of cigarette ends, 50 pieces of rubbish, 2 holes in the grass, 7 feathers, fallen leaves, path, grass, daisies, thistles, wall.

Wilbur was seriously cute and the only good thing was my daughter wasn’t here otherwise we would have had problems leaving.

push.acted.films

So arrived today at 9.30am and it can usually be quite busy at this time, dog walkers and people going to work, students and so on, but it is empty! There is one guy and his boxer he is picking up rubbish in between throwing a ball for his dog. There is 2 students on one bench and that is it. The weather is cloudy and a bit chilly but I think it will get warmer. However, as I do my filming and take some photographs a couple more dog walkers turn up and by the time I have finished it is much busier with a lot more people walking through and some lessons must finish at about 10 as a few groups of students start arriving and once again it starts to be busy and it seems like a totally different place than just half an hour before.

Today I saw: 4 trees, 3 dog walkers and 4 dogs including the dogs from yesterday that I said might be Labradoodles but are in fact Springer/Poodle cross whatever that is called Springpoo, Springdoodle, Poospring? They have lots of energy though and just ran round and round, 1 dog ball, 16 feather (including a cluster together so maybe that cat was here), 40 pieces of rubbish (lots of little bags, not sure what they are for, sugar?), path, grass, clover, daisies, wall, fallen leaves, snail trails.

Just to say that in my video I mention The Baltic gallery in Newcastle, but it is in fact in Gateshead! Sorry to everyone from Gateshead and the Baltic.

drove.gets.cheek

Section 14, today I went to the park about midday. It is a nice day, warm but not too hot with beautiful skies. The park is definitely busy today, mainly students gathering in large groups around the benches. It is nice, although I do think that this sometimes puts other people off sitting in the park as the it can seem overwhelming and often there aren’t any free benches. Also wherever there are students there tends to be rubbish, which is annoying considering there are quite a few bins within easy reach of most of the places where they accumulate. Having said this there were also a couple of dog walkers and of course a lot of people just use it as a pleasant walk through to town.

As well as students there were a couple of couples picnicking. With rugs and wine and sandwiches and everything, which was so nice to see. I think we have another illicit affair with one couple. It is a good place to meet outside of home and he had obviously gone to quite a lot of trouble for a Tuesday lunchtime. I took their photo but had to swear not to put it online so I will just do a sketch later to preserve their privacy. The other couple had been married for 37 years that day and just wanted a low key but romantic lunch They didn’t have such a nice blanket though! A couple of students sat on the grass in my area, they were both studying music amongst other things and they looked musical.

Apart from students and picnickers I saw other things: 2 trees (one large beech tree with a small holly tree growing from it and 1 sapling), path, grass, 2 tree stumps, 1 lamppost, 13 pieces of rubbish (including 3 cans and 2 masks), 1 dandelion clock, 3 feathers, grass, daisies, buttercups, dandelions.

bill.ready.blog

Today we are in section 13 at 9.30 in the morning. Despite it being midsummer it is quite cold having rained all night. Today should have been the day where all freedoms are returned after the pandemic but due to rising numbers again we are at a little bit of a stalemate for a while. However despite all these things there are still people in the park. People walking through on their way in town, shopping or working. Dog walkers as usual as well as people sitting on benches. One couple are canoodling (such a great word) on a bench and there are two girls (Ashleigh and Amy) sitting on the bench that is in my section, how exciting! They are too preoccupied to worry about me talking to myself around them and it is apparent that they are having problems with another friend of theirs and don’t know how to tell her that they have had enough of her friendship unless she can alter her behaviour.

two dog walkers come into my section with two dogs (Jasper and Bobby) but there are a lot more in the rest of the park. No tennis players today or footballers it is obviously too early for any sport.

I saw lots of things today: 2 trees, 1 bench, 1 tree stump, path, grass, 35 bits of rubbish, hundreds of cigarette ends especially round the bench, 1 tampon, 4 feathers, 1 crow, 1 blackbird, daisies, buttercups and loads of leaves. I feel happy being here even though I feel a little cold and Ashleigh and Amy think I’m odd.