A short Psycho-geographical tour of Cardiff

"Go out into the city, and walk the circle, keeping as close as you can to the curve. Record the experience as you go, in whatever medium you favour, film, photograph, manuscript, tape. Catch the textual run-off of the streets; the graffiti, the branded litter, the snatches of conversation. Cut for sign. Log the data-stream. Be alert to the happenstance of metaphors, watch for visual rhymes, coincidences, analogies, family resemblances, the changing moods of the street. Complete the circle, and the record ends. Walking makes for content; footage for footage."

Robert MacFarlane, A Road of One's Own From the Times Literary Supplement, October 07, 2005  

Today on the pretext of looking for work I did a short Psycho-Geographical tour of Cardiff to see some places I haven't seen for ages and to document in pictures this short journey. I started off at the recently painted mural on Coburn Street in Cathays featuring a poem from acclaimed Cardiff poet and one of the followers of this Blog. Mab Jones.

This was a wonderful example of what can be done with a wall, facing terraced houses, and the poem and wall eulogised an elderly and long standing member of the street.  Howard Gardens Bowling Club next where the R.N.I.B used to play bowls. Overgrown. An example of one of the very few green areas left in the city centre, being primed for development. Vulnerable adults used to play here!!! How many offices and flats does a city need for Chrissake! Re-Green this City and Re-Green it now.

 

In my second incarnation in the City which has lasted from September 1987 until now I have never seen this building before or rather the back of it. Architecture wise is it the 1950s? It is the back of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary.
Cutting through then the 'metal' streets of Adamsdown, moving towards Splott, I spied the old Tredegar Arms where I had a pint once, many many moons ago but was glad to see that it was now being put to a better use. It was now the Headquarters of the Cardiff Anarchist Group, the Red & Black Umbrella.

I first lived in the City from February 1967- August 1969 before we joined the pogrom north and before man stepped foot on the moon. In those days I remember that the Buses were dark red, perhaps maroon and the radiator grills on the front made them look as if they were crying. Returning to the City in 87, the Buses were Orange and then at some point in the late eighties or early nineties they changed into their present turquoise.



Today I was on Shanks Pony and I realised how long it had been since I had been down to the Peoples' Republic of Splott. This building  which is now a Christian Church of some sorts must have been a Cinema/Picture House. Again style wise, I'm not sure of the era but took a photo in case somebody else does. By this stage I was starting to feel concreted out and was gasping for air because of the lack of green spaces. So I stopped in a Portugese Cafe on the Splott Road for a Cup of Tea.

Walking from Splott to Roath across Broadway, I was reminded that I should really be looking for work because on Broadway I had a short lived job in 'The Printers' in 1988 where I met a couple of long standing friends although one is on sabbatical at the moment. Pubs had gone and flats had taken their place. People are now drinking in their flats, now twice the strength of alcohol but with less of the social aspect to it. Over to brightly covered Elm Street (left) where it appears that street had come together and said that they will all paint the fronts of their houses colorfully. It reminded me of Aberaeron in West Wales.
I checked in at Plasnewydd Gardens where I had been at a gathering on Saturday just to see one of the few green and growing spots in the centre and then rounded off at Mackintosh Gardens via the mural below.  There are too many cars in Cardiff. It took too long to cross the road. A pedestrian's quality of life is being reduced by a car drivers who come at you at speed, they are bigger, have four wheels and can do some damage and they know it. They won't reduce the production of cars because it is keeping people in jobs. If televisions were thrown out of windows and cars taken to the scrapyards then community and greenery could begin to grow again in this city. Television or Colour Television has only been with us since 1952, it's launch to coincide with our reigning monarch so the first thing we saw was someone who was better than us, getting ready to reign over us and we have been getting smaller and more scared ever since.  
I had a very knowledgeable guide for today's tour but he wishes to remain nameless but he is a mover and shaker in the community cohesion arena. This is happening with 'Made in Roath' and much kudos to them for what they do. This needs to be spread out across the city. Perhaps the more people who do Psycho-geographical tours of their cities, documenting as they go might re-invigorate interest in surroundings rather than the fear inducing square box in the corner of the room.