Not to worry, we’re not veering off topic. The title doesn’t refer to that awkward walk-run intermediate act. Back in the 80s, I was involved in a car accident when a car ran into the back of mine at high speed.  I suffered a shifted pelvis, damage to my lower back and other whiplash injuries. An orthopaedic consultant said that if there was one thing I should avoid doing it would be jogging.  I wasn’t much of a fan of it anyway.

Another thing I gave up a long, long time ago was going to a gym. I can’t understand it. What pleasure can be had? Over-exerting yourself, indoors??? As it happens, a physiotherapist and my loving wife have been telling me that I should attend a gym, apparently to strengthen my core muscles. So I’m signed up at my local gym in Greenwich. It’s called “Better” and is run by Greenwich Leisure Limited, which began as a spin-off from Greenwich Council, but is now one of the largest social enterprises in the fitness sector.

On Thursdays I attend barre exercises: Oh my God! How excruciatingly painful and exhausting are they!  I’ve long enjoyed watching ballet and contemporary dance so hats off to the dancers , now I’ve experienced a weekly barre class. 

I also went to a tai chi class and discovered that the instructor was a mere 82 years old. She was all for alignment and was quick to tick me off, unlike my tai chi master, Jason, who is far more gentle to us who practice with him in Peckham Rye Park. I’ve been practising with him, almost every Saturday for 15 years….

During the week, I went to a lunchtime lecture at the University of Westminster on the invitation of Tom Cohen, Reader in Transport Policy. Tom and I both worked in sustainable transport, and it was back in November, 2007 that I invited him to a Conversation on Future Lifestyles in the basement of the Commonwealth Club in Westminster. These conversations were a means for me to ‘up skill’ myself on particular topics and try to build a network for my burgeoning freelance urban design and active travel consultancy.

When Tom was at University College London, he commissioned me to devise a walkshop in which we took people to an area called Somers Town, a neighbourhood of social housing, trapped between two major London railway terminals, Euston and Saint Pancras. We called the walkshop Light and Dark inviting residents and students to engage with a place during daylight, retreat to a coffee shop (that also happened to be a pub) and then return to that space after dark. It was remarkable what different reactions and emotions were expressed; the whole feel of the neighbourhood changed rapidly, just in a few hours.

This lecture was about how walking could be used as a pedagogical technique in the teaching of sociology. The keynote presenter was Dr Emma Jackson, who coincidentally I had interviewed for Talking Walking 2 or 3 years ago.

She spoke about how we never walk alone. We are always accompanied by others, they may only be ghostly memories or non-humans too.  For the sociologist, what appears to be key, is how our behaviour changes through ‘engaged togetherness’. She’s a huge fan of Doreen Massey, the Marxist geographer, who lived in the Kilburn area in North London and died only 10 years ago. Her book For Space is frequently referenced by walking artists.  Emma had worked with Agata Lisiak on a sociological review of Doreen’s neighbourhood, and created an episode for the Spatial Delight podcast series.

It is Sound Walk September, so you knew that I would eventually get round to mentioning something about audio in this newsletter. Last Sunday, I interviewed Simon James French over Zoom, for he is in Kyoto, Japan and has a podcast Kyoto, in Sound in which he invites residents to share with him their memorable sounds of the city. Should you ever go to Kyoto, make sure you sign up for one of his soundwalks. He will lend you a recorder and binaural microphones, so that you can listen to your surroundings and save a souvenir audio postcard of the route you have walked.

By the time you read this, I will be on my way to Beveren in Belgium, for a Made Of Walking Encounter, it jogs a lot of memories for me, as the seed for Sound Walk September, was launched  at a Made Of Walking Encounter in La Romieu in 2017. Five years before that, I was a participant on Sideways 2012, when we walked across Flanders, finishing only a few kilometres beyond Beveren.

Do enjoy your walks and walking in the coming week. I hope you have fun and that a few memories will be jogged.

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