Don't stare too long: why our feral, polluted canals are so beguiling

[Alan de Enfield]

 

The roar of the road is receding with each step down and with it the light is changing; it is dancing, mirrored and then dappled in the ripples of the water. One layer down and the city has become an entirely different place.

I, like many, am using the canal as a quiet cut-through. It smells different down here; there’s the dankness of the water, for sure, but there’s a wealth of green filtering the fumes from above. And the soundscape changes – song birds, the curious grunt of a bank of geese eyeing me and the dog warily, the lap of the water’s edge and the groan of metal sidings that are there to repair the bridge.

Today the canal is a shortcut to another part of the city, but the canals also represent an escape for me. There’s a freedom to this space that feels unpoliced by normal city rules. When I am kayaking they become an adventure playground, a way to get to part of the city you can’t reach on foot. A place to meet fellows, human or otherwise, that you might not find elsewhere.

The life down here is distinctly feral. There are men fishing, some for fish, some for metal. I’ve seen a man using a huge magnet on a thick line of rope to trawl the canal floor for treasure. There’s a trail of unwanted, rusting finds; a child’s bike, a spanner, bolt cutter, a pulley, rod bars and what looks like a rotting safe, a screwdriver, endless bike locks and a horse shoe. The archaeology of the canal in rusted orange...……………………………...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jul/26/dont-stare-too-long-why-our-feral-polluted-canals-are-so-beguiling

[Murflynn]

I wonder what kind of non-human fellows are nice to meet in a quiet place that is not policed by the normal city rules?

 

 

.....  sounds a bit ominous to me.  

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

I wonder what kind of non-human fellows are nice to meet in a quiet place that is not policed by the normal city rules?

 

 

.....  sounds a bit ominous to me.  

I reckon C&RT's Marketing department are on a role - that's two 'weird' newspaper articles in two days.

[dor]

Go to the original article in the Guardian and there are several links at the end to other waterways-related articles.

Worth a look.

[GUMPY]

30 minutes ago, dor said:

Go to the original article in the Guardian and there are several links at the end to other waterways-related articles.

Worth a look.

Especially the then and now one

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jul/25/the-dramatic-transformation-of-britains-canals-photographs-then-and-now

Apart from a set of railings and more people the view at Black Bridge hasn't changed

[Mac of Cygnet]

I thought 'feral' meant 'once tame but now wild'.  The word seems to be going the way of 'vibrant' - overused and meaningless.

[CompairHolman]

The Guardian lives in a fantasy world , its best to ignore the predictable nonsense they publish. 

 

I'm only surprised that they haven't that announced canals are racist yet.