A Quick Walk

I went out for a quick walk yesterday. Since my new route home from work has been taking me over the canal at the edge of Regents Park, I thought I'd take the time to have a wander and explore it. I headed west, arriving after a short while — and a single, rather confusing detour away from the canal side — later at Little Venice.

There I left Regents Canal curving southwards and followed the Grand Union further west, passing this collage / mural along the way.

My target was an intriguing patch of green which had previously leapt out at me from the map. Named "Meanwhile Gardens", it of course couldn't hope to live up to its name. Long and narrow, like most areas of communal land in London it featured rough tracks meandering through green hummocks. There was a concrete bowl of a skatepark, various assemblages of adventure playgrounds with swings and climbing frames, and a series of stagnant ponds, falling in steps of thick green weed. There was also this handy plaque, showing you where you were — spatially, in relation to the planets, and chronologically, in relation to the dinosaurs. Handy.

I followed the tow path further west, to the next easy exit point, which happened to be close to Kensal Green cemetery. Now, say what you like about the Victorians, but they certainly knew how to do death. The weather was just on the wrong side of bad for it to be really atmospheric, but there was a pleasing dampness in the air which leant a spring to the dark, pine-covered earth and brought out the green of the moss coating the granite tombs.

Then it was down Ladbroke Grove — somewhere I know chiefly through the writing of Michael Moorcock, and which had until then been as unreal to me as Tanelorn — and then home.