The badlands of London: a dystopian discovery

[Hollis]

Hendon Central. 9am. Bereft of people. Raining. Massive roundabout. Rammed full of speeding cars. Some crappy uncared for 1930s architecture. The joy...

 

[ska invita]

the entire north circ

 

[MysteryGuest]

Is there a word for getting a kind of subdued frisson of aesthetic satisfaction when contemplating urban concrete bleakness? If not, there ought to be one imo.

 

[Silas Loom]

Baffled by the hate for 1930s mansion blocks.

 

[ska invita]

driving in to london on the a13 gives me existential dread

 

[Numbers]

Terry Spinks Place Canning Town

 

[ska invita]

Is there a word for getting a kind of subdued frisson of aesthetic satisfaction when contemplating urban concrete bleakness? If not, there ought to be one imo.

I havent read it but Iv heard that JG Ballards Crash is about driving around the bigger monoconcrete roads around 80s heathrow and wanting to crash your car motivated by a subsconscious sexual desire...or something like that

 

[ska invita]

Is there a word for getting a kind of subdued frisson of aesthetic satisfaction when contemplating urban concrete bleakness? If not, there ought to be one imo.

theres better articles than this but Ruin Porn is a thing - i swear there was a different name for this

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/what-ruin-porn-tells-us-about-ruins-and-porn/index.html

 

[Numbers]

driving in to london on the a13 gives me existential dread

The view of London when you come over the flyover by the Beckton Alps I quite like.

 

[tim]

I havent read it but Iv heard that JG Ballards Crash is about driving around the bigger monoconcrete roads around 80s heathrow and wanting to crash your car motivated by a subsconscious sexual desire...or something like that

It wasn't a subconscious desire that drove the protagonists. They were very aware of what and why they were doing it. I read the first few chapters in Heffers bookshop on a rainy trip to Cambridge about 20 years ago

 

[Steel Icarus]

Have you read Edgelands Hollis ? Some stuff in there about this kind of feel for places

 

[klang]

Where the westway meets wood lane

 

[klang]

Hendon Central. 9am. Bereft of people. Raining. Massive roundabout. Rammed full of speeding cars. Some crappy uncared for 1930s architecture. The joy...

View attachment 400482

Also home to the met's police academy

 

[yield]

Hendon Central. 9am. Bereft of people. Raining. Massive roundabout. Rammed full of speeding cars. Some crappy uncared for 1930s architecture. The joy...

It's not that bad. Compared to say the Neasden underpass. Also there's no roundabout?

Also home to the met's police academy

Miles away in Colindale.

 

[MysteryGuest]

driving in to london on the a13 gives me existential dread

Have you heard the track of that name by Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart? (I'd stick a YT link up but on phone and technically inept )

 

[ska invita]

The view of London when you come over the flyover by the Beckton Alps I quite like.

i think when you can enjoy a view like that you get the Real Londoner badge! x

 

[andysays]

Have you heard the track of that name by Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart? (I'd stick a YT link up but on phone and technically inept )

Good call (I haven't listen to it for ages...)

 

[ska invita]

Good call (I haven't listen to it for ages...)

hah thats amazing
its definitely a road worthy of a song

 

[MysteryGuest]

Good call (I haven't listen to it for ages...)

I haven't listened to it in donkey's either - goes really well with this thread imo... and the general November bleakness out there...

 

[brogdale]

I havent read it but Iv heard that JG Ballards Crash is about driving around the bigger monoconcrete roads around 80s heathrow and wanting to crash your car motivated by a subsconscious sexual desire...or something like that

Concrete island; brilliant book.

 

[brogdale]

Went to Watford a while ago...for the first time in my life...pleasantly surprised to find ducks living on ponds in the pedestrianised high street. Not very dystopian.

 

[andysays]

I havent read it but Iv heard that JG Ballards Crash is about driving around the bigger monoconcrete roads around 80s heathrow and wanting to crash your car motivated by a subsconscious sexual desire...or something like that

Crash was published in 1973

This song inspired by the novel was released in 1978



...A tear of petrol
Is in your eye
The hand brake
Penetrates your thigh
Quick - Let's make love
Before you die...

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Terry Spinks Place Canning Town

View attachment 400486

Remains of the time tunnel?

 

[brogdale]

For those that haven't had the pleasure...the lovely ducks of Watford High Street (North End):

 

[Puddy_Tat]

driving in to london on the a13 gives me existential dread

used to be part of my route (or at least the bit between the north circular and the blackwall tunnel) between home (when i was in the east midlands) and mum-tat's place south of the river.

had a nasty moment one time when i came over the canning town flyover and was confronted with a new junction with loads of lanes and traffic lights and roads in various directions, all of which hadn't been there the previous time...

The view of London when you come over the flyover by the Beckton Alps I quite like.

i remember the beckton alps when it was just the shit tip from the gasworks. it would only be a slight exaggeration to say it glowed in the dark...

 

[andysays]

I had a drive yesterday late afternoon/early evening up the A12 from Hackney Wick to Redbridge, then back home around the A406 to the Edmonton incinerator and down the A1055 to Tottenham Hale.

Here's another track inspired by JG Ballard