I arrived at the station. The Paris Gare du Nord. I heard that familiar French over the tannoy and that jingle that is played with every announcement at the station. I am sure I will end up living in this country at some point in the future. But this time, I am here on a business trip which is a part time foray away from London- studies, mist, uncertain housing, protests, projects etc but recently I don’t feel like I am escaping anything.

A year or so ago, I would have relished the chance to get away and romanticised about it, but I no longer feel that where I am is important rather what I know and how I see that world that counts. That has developed rather a lot in the past year through my studies and general life experiences (including having time to reflect on previous travels and writing a book about
them).

I am putting a lot of effort into being aware of my surroundings, trends, people, things, textures and seeing beyond the usual transient thoughts and things that catch attention. I want to know how a place can open up to me.

I had a dream about a month ago. In it I was searching for a key to open a door. Once I eventually got hold of the key which was at the end of a strange corridor that seems to close in after me. The key was a metaphor for how new worlds can be opened up which extend reality into new territory. I have been thinking about this in relation to the city. The city is a place where the longer you stay, the more effort you make to open these doors and find these keys the deeper it goes.

I became aware that although I was seeing the same places, tourists, kinds of people and behaviours in my everyday life I had reached a further level of depth in understanding the place that seemed difficult to be able to share this experience other than to say that if you stay in a place for a while and learn to see it in a variety of ways the landscape and narratives take on new forms.

The landscape even begins to speak in new ways- its symbolisation changes and therefore the way I imagine the city to exist and unfold starts to evolve.

To give some concrete examples. Firstly there are the protests that are going on. Attending a protest is quite a strange experience. It disrupts the usual flow of the city space and juxtaposes a number of new elements- slogans, matters of concern, blocking the streets, a carnival atmosphere and the police can be seen to act differently to how they usually do.

At first a protest is experienced by onlookers (and first, second, third etc… timers), like a strange emotional awareness that something in reality isn’t quite normal. There is a feeling that there is something ‘up’ but it is difficult to put your finger on it. The very nature of this whole occurrence gives anyone who comes into contact with it, a new awareness of the city which can be chosen to be ignored or acknowledged and explored.

Example number two would be how I perceive the city a set of buildings made out of concrete and other materials. But look… as soon as a I start to describe the place it is clear how little I know materially of the place.

A material investigation of the city is incredibly powerful. It bypasses (engulfs/includes) human narrative and is the fabric of reality and its configuration. The grey buildings are no longer grey- they show signs of erosion, marks from pollution (where is pollution), marks from wear and tear.

This set of observations builds up a material realisation and a realisation of history. The history of the city is a good way to get perspective on the existence of the city and that the city changes and is not some place that has managed to overcome the problem of time by being endlessly cleaned, demolished, renovated and reconstituted. These things happen because of time.

Third example would be when you find people and experience something of their life and find out that their life is unimaginably different from your own, so much so that your reality feels like a whole has been blown out exposing a gaping void, which could even be thought of as an open door into which new passages and possibilities for movement emerge. So in this way, these examples I have given are also keys.

What are your keys?

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