A Walk In the Park

A visit to Spring Lake Park…

The view from the entrance of the park.

Over the weekend, I paid a visit to the public park by my house. It’s a pretty infamous location for my whole family, as almost everyone goes there to walk, fish, or to just clear their minds after a long day. In fact, before we moved here, my parents and I would not consider our summer trips (from Kuwait) to be complete without having an early morning stroll by the lake. But this might have been the first time that I went to the park alone, as I found it quite eerie compared to my last few visits. I hypothesized that it’s because of my frequent trips to the city, where I’m constantly surrounded by people, but who knows. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my visit/walk and noticed quite a few things, like:

• People fishing in the distance
• Elderly couples having a walk
• Cars, including a firetruck, zooming by
• An empty playground
• Trees, shrubs, and flowers
• Lots of signs
• Lots of pebbles
• Lots of dragonflies
• Algae on the lake

Experience Collection:

• On September 9th, around 10:00 AM, I entered Spring Lake Park and was bombarded by the different signs, greenery, and the various bright colors of the plants. But that wasn’t the most eventful part, as the beginning of my walk was interrupted by a couple of dragonflies that were swarming around me. This made me walk a little faster than I would have liked, but it gave me enough time to take the first picture of the view with my phone. Like I mentioned though, the area surrounding me was bright and colorful, as I saw shades of red, yellow, violet, and green everywhere. I didn’t really touch the different kinds of plants, but I did manage to smell the flowers, as they gave off an exquisite fragrance. “Picture/sketch 1” in the picture below shows the view I had once I began my walk.

Sketches of my two experiences.

• On September 9th, around 10:30 AM, I went closer to the lake in the park, as I had felt like I had seen enough greenery for the day. But alas, as I got closer, I noticed numerous amounts of shrubs and quite a bit of algae on the lake, along with some people that were fishing. I watched the fishermen for a bit, as they somehow managed to avoid the algae and make a few attempts to catch some fish in the (visible) blue-green colored water. It did get a bit breezy though, allowing me to “smell” the humidity in the air (very musty), which I managed to avoid by placing my cap on my face/nose. As a result, I didn’t really get close enough to actually touch the water, speak to the fishermen, or take a close up picture of the lake. “Picture/sketch 2” in the picture above shows the view I had once I got to the lake.

Object Collection:

• On September 9th, around 10:00 AM, when I was walking around the park, I picked up my first object(s). In some shrubs, I had noticed several flowers with big leaves around them, and decided to take some. They smelled fresh, had distinct colors (flowers were yellow, but leaves were brown), and had unique textures (flowers were very soft, but leaves were “crunchy”), which caught my attention. “Picture/sketch 1” in the picture below shows what the flower/leaves looked like.

Sketches of my two objects.

• On September 9th, around 10:30 AM, when I was walking by the lake, I picked up my second object(s). By a sign, I had noticed several pebbles, and decided to pick a few up. They were all grey and smelled like dirt, but they all had different textures too (no two pebbles were the same), which caught my attention. “Picture/sketch 2” in the picture above shows what the pebbles looked like, and the picture below shows the sign that I found them under.

The sign that helped me find my second object(s).

• In Turnbull’s article, “Handheld Time Machines,” he often includes some variation on the sentence, “They disregard me?” What is the significance of this phrase? What is the meaning of “disregard” and “regard?” How does this “disregarding” relate to Solnit’s descriptions of the solitary urban walker?
• In “Handheld Time Machines,” Giles Turnbull takes his readers on an adventure, as he walks around Bristol, observing different places, people, and routes. While observing the people though, he often ends his claims by telling us how “they disregard me [Turnbull],” which brings up a good point. But before we can discuss that point, it would be wise to differentiate between disregarding and regarding someone/something. When someone “disregards” a person/something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they dislike them/it, but it just means that they see them/it as a regular part of society, and are choosing to ignore them/it. But when someone gives a person/something their “regards,” that means they went out of their way to give them/it some sort of specific attention or concern. But when you’re in a city, especially one of the largest ones in England, it’s not very difficult to understand why people could care less about what other bystanders, like Giles Turnbull, are doing, as everyone is already preoccupied with their own problems, intentions, and responsibilities. This relates to Solnit’s descriptions of the solitary urban walker, as the “urbanite” is prone to look out for particular things that might interest or benefit themselves, while disregarding everything else (unlike the rural walker, who walks around appreciating all the beauty around them.)