Wednesday 14 January 2009

Suburban sundown - Bypass on the road to doom! - # 09/08

The low angle of the sunset gives a pleasant golden glow to the misery of the Kingston Bypass.

The Domesday Book was the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or 'William the Conqueror' (The Anglo-Norman word gave us our modern "Doom" i.e. Day of reckoning.) William wanted to know the full value of the great land he had accidentally conquered when an arrow (most likely a completely fluke shot, un-aimed and random) killed the Saxon King at the very moment when the Norman soldiers were about to give up, thinking they could not win.

The green, rolling hills - now covered with asphalt and houses between 1927 and 1938 - became, for a little while, the possession of the Bishop of Bayeux.

The Bishop acquired this wealthy, beautiful, rural landscape of farms and productive capacity entirely by the accident of a loose arrow going nowhere. We have covered the land with a thundering, incessantly roaring road by the design of planners following population growth and economic imperative. Where are we going? Are we that arrow? Or are we the random arrow's final target? Do we plan a true path, or is it all random chance?

The suburban sundown series.........where's it going? (Well, actually, if the clouds do not dissolve and allow back the sun,........... hmmmmmm??? But we will keep trying. The English weather is not a great help right now, but that problem, like all things, will pass.)

10 comments:

  1. If it wasn't for the British number plates I would have thought: this is America. It reminds me, somehow.
    http://cologneblog.wordpress.com/
    P.S. Can't you change the settings for your comments so that it is possible to comment as a wordpress user, too?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting text, 'Roon. Humans don't seem to have the ability to see how their actions NOW impact on the future. We have that here in Sydney: who now would build the Cahill Expressway across the face of the city and over Circular Quay. Just madness ...

    This image could be of Parramatta Road - one of Sydney's main arteries.

    ReplyDelete
  3. One image I don't miss, vast amounts of traffic.Nicely done snapshot history lesson too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @April.....my settings are set so that "Anyone" can view or comment. Therefore, I do not understand your problem. Please help me to understand.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A lot of questions raised around this photo! I guess you don't want me to give any definite answers?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree, Anywhere USA. I am eternally grateful I have never had to join the rat race on a freeway on a daily basis. Were you driving when you shot this??HHHMMMM?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chuckeroon, please - put your coat and scarf and boots on and go out to your wonderful local pub and order a nice bottle of something interesting and take a bar shot. Photographs of a bypass aren't good for your soul. Believe me. Or hell, come and visit Menton and I'll show you blue skies and clean air.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ne te plains pas du English weather, Chuckeroon. Une fois j'ai fait un stage de voile en Bretagne et il a tant plus que nos vêtements ne séchaient pas. Pour finir je n'ai pas fini ce stage, je suis partie avec des amies et nous avons visité les châteaux de la Loire.
    J'ai tout de même remarqué alors un petit bénéfice : je n'avais jamais eue une peau aussi fraîche et bien hydratée. Tes compatriotes sont réputées (peut être ne le savais tu pas ?) pour leur joli teint de porcelaine.

    ReplyDelete
  9. J'aime bien cette image, quelque part elle a un petit coté de San Francisco. Le tracé des rues qui ne tient pas compte du relief. Les réverbères qui rythment la route. Les maisons ! Pauvres riverains alignés comme à la parade ! Les ponts, les passerelles, la rue de desserte. Cette photo est dynamique, rythmée donc, très vivante. Mais bon sang ! J'aimerais pas habiter là, sous ces toits rouges !

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am having similar problems here in the WWV. Photos are so much less interesting when they are grey. Which is all we've had since Tuesday. And that was only a fluke.

    The history lesson was interesting. Of course I learned all of this in school, but remembering it all...has never been my forte.

    ReplyDelete