18th August 2022 - 6pm - Thursday
Start: Bridge No. 3 - gentle weather, warm, not hot
The wind blows through
It’s a South, Southwest wind
Towards Lochrin Basin
The canal is rippling in the opposite direction
to yesterday
The wind has changed
It strikes me how held
in form this water is
how contained it is,
It is water held in a human made vessel
I touched the bottom tonight
It was thrilling!
Soft and squidgy
Warm
And not as long as my arm
Waved at the fishing
school boys from yesterday’s exchange
Nice to feel welcome and familiar
What is not familiar is the ability to
locate oneself in the city.
The canal feels straight but
actually bends
and weaves
“We seem to have travelled so far but have come no distance at all”
The words of someone travelling with me tonight
Space and time have altered themselves
The joggers and cyclists are linear
Speeding along
Beating the clock
And the boat rowers from the rowing club
They glide across the surface
of the water at breathtaking speed
Appearing effortless but
very effort-full
They are beautiful and soundless
I feel the contrast
between them
and the horses that
would once pull
the barges
And there is me
Slowly moving
Noticing
Fleeting moments
Slipping in and out of things
Responding
Moving with
Moving as
Fodder for the senses
Filled with experience
There are formal and informal entrances and exits
A new bridge sits alongside an old bridge
The former is flat and smooth and nothing grows there.
The latter rough and crumbly,
cut by hand and plants
sprout out from it
Down a banking to rusty railings
hooking down at
the railway line
The very railway line
that stole away the
life of the canal
Overtook
Tookover
The towpath is wilder now
There are trees to swing on
And berries to pick
And a wall that’s once been
A handmade dyke
Stepping stones remain
I jump from stone to stone
and balance where I can
Then tip and twirl
and land and find
another ancient stone
Who cares for this place
Tends it
Nurtures it
Cares about the future
and who is welcome here
If care is an action
Then action is a way to be
So be the change
Change time
Share space
Notice
Swing on the branch
of a tree
This is enough
and more than enough
Next - Friday 19th August 2022 - Start Bridge No. 4 - Meggetland - 3pm