No sex please, we're south of the river.

[hirez]

For the purposes of after-the-fact research, I've been leafing through several volumes of 'Bristol's history in postcards'. As one might imagine, it's all fascinating stuff for anyone with an interest in psychogeography. I'm still not likely to purchase the similarly-themed DVDs piled up in the Post Office, but there we are.

(Some years ago, ma & pa gave me a copy of some 'What happened in 1965' DVD. The content was, um, somewhat disappointing. I think because one's become used to the ludicrous wealth of information made available by the Internet, an hour or so of jetset-heavy newsreel footage isn't going to cut it. Still, it was a jolly nice thing and a useful demonstration of just how little anyone knew of anything while news was controlled by the state media outlets. I'll have to dig out the Spies For Peace pamphlets again.)

In yon book there were a lot of views of Fishponds that contained trams, trees, no cars and a rather pleasingly Metroland-ish aspect. (And of course polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, no NHS, no telly and people knowing their place, should anyone think I'm having a nostalge.) There were also several views from the thirties of the newly-created Hillfields suburb, which manages to look both spacious and oddly Clarice Cliff/Arts&Crafts/Kent vernacular. (And yet entirely wrong when placed next to the Bristolian iced-cake style of terrace) Thus I am now slightly better disposed to the terrible pit of Thatcherite/NuLab aspirational conservatory building and WRX fettling than I was last week. That'll last until the next feral oik lobs a half-brick in my direction.

I was reminded of this while driving through the far southern reaches of That There Londons on Monday. Hayes Village, for instance, seems to be the mother lode for pleasant-looking suburbia. It looks lovely, but I would imagine that it's the sort of place that people plot to escape as soon as they're old enough to get served in pubs.

Comments

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

Hayes Middlesex, or Hayes Kent?

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Kent.

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

I live just up the road - you should have come round for tea!

[hirez.livejournal.com]

I fear the circumstances of our visit to the area were somewhat less than ideal. However, now that I know how to get there and that the traffic's no worse than Bristol...

[quercus.livejournal.com]

That's true for nearly anywhere short of Delhi...

[ladymoonray.livejournal.com]

I would imagine that it's the sort of place that people plot to escape as soon as they're old enough to get served in pubs.

I lived round the corner from D, and that's more or less exactly what I did.

[steer.livejournal.com]

Noting the Dorchester tag I was there (the tiny village -- I don't get road naming conventions so you might mean some other one) the other day with Dr T, Fiona and Mary after some walk up the Thames path.

They had a really crap museum about Dorchester. I couldn't believe Simon gave them money for it. The collection tin said "We are trying to raise 800 pounds for a timeline of Dorchester" -- infuriating. I said (rather loudly) "Don't give them money Simon, they'll just piss it away on a timeline" but he wouldn't listen. What's it made of? Gold?

[hirez.livejournal.com]

http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/roadlists/f99/37.shtml

Perhaps their timeline is in a different dimension so it can be actual size.

[steer.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, that's not the Dorchester I was thinking of.

[thegreatgonzo.livejournal.com]

I feel I should be defending my county town, but can't really bring myself to do so.

[steer.livejournal.com]

I suspect that is some other larger dorchester than this one.

[hazeii.livejournal.com]

1965 - the year my Triumph Bonneville was born (I bought a computer with 768 bytes of RAM in 1977, but the cracks were just beginning to line the walls so I swapped it for the bike).

[jendama.livejournal.com]

Any clues in the book about what the Christmas Steps were named for? Still curious, I am.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

I have extreme difficulty picturing Hillfields being attractive.

I'd probably be motivated to walk to work more often if it weren't for the fact that 60% of the space between home and work is Hillfields.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

I'll dig the book out the next time your round for longer than thirty seconds. There was one view in particular that made a chap think that if the inmates grew spuds rather than shit cars, it would be a much better place.