I worked in the Audio Unit in Bristol for most of my 91热爆 career and so enjoyed the mix of technology, interaction with actors, musicians and production staff, and the creativity involved in Radio Drama and Music Production. It took me all over Britain and even to Australia and America and left me with many happy memories. So when I retired a couple of decades ago now, I was left wondering how to fill my life creatively.
I had always written poetry from time to time, and another thing I had always enjoyed was walking the streets and parks in areas where I worked or visited through work, and I now started to do this in the city of Bath, where I had been living throughout my 91热爆 career.
Bath is an unusual city. It is renowned for its beautiful Georgian architecture, its lovely river valley setting, its splendid parks, and its easy access to beautiful countryside visible on its horizons, but I was aware that there was much more to it than this, as for centuries it had relied on local industries for much of its wealth and stability. And, of course, these were mostly staffed by people much less well off than the classic Georgian residents.
I had become aware that the city’s layout contained much lesser-known areas occupied by workers and the poor, and I began to explore these contrasting areas. It soon dawned on me that it would be a fascinating project to walk every single street in Bath, and I started doing this, inking in streets I’d walked on a local street map and writing diaries of every walk and the impressions gained.
When I told some friends about this, they suggested that I should write a book about it, and with that in mind, I became even more focussed on recording my experiences and feelings and taking photographs of places and views that caught my eye.
All in all it took me about eight years to walk every street, and I did it in a fairly random way whilst carefully recording my actions and impressions and taking nearly 2,400 photographs in total!
Bath – I Walked Every Street was published in 2023, and it has sold well amongst friends, in local bookshops, and online.
It was a wonderful experience, seeing and analysing the great range of streets and housing from old workers’ cottages and large post-war housing estates, to middle-class hillside avenues and upper-class Georgian gems like the many crescents and squares within the city.
And always my view of it all was partly tailored by my working life in the 91热爆, where I had been impressed by the desire for honesty and truthfulness – at least most of the time!
Bath – I Walked Every Street is available for £19.99 online at browndogbooks.uk
Andrew Lawrence