Place: The Edge aka 1A Lett Road
Location: Stratford London E16
Floors: 11
Height: 34 metres[/B]
Stratford Station
After attempting unsuccessfully to go to the top of the Athena building, my friend D and myself decided to move a little bit down the road to visit a building of a much more modest height, The Edge, 1A Lett Road.
Climbing up the scaffolding at the back of the building to the first floor, we breezed into the building unhindered by anything, bar a little anxiety and hesitation due to having had to deal with a very aggressive security guard just a few days previously during our epic Athena fail (http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=42153)
Towards the Olympic Stadium
We found the stairs and went up to the 5th floor, which is as high as the back of the building went. Once at the top of this side of the building, we moved round to the front of the building so as to be able to keep moving up.
Queers live here
Before we had a chance to do so, however, I came across a graffiti which read: "Queers live here". This was a bit of a shock, though for unexpected reasons. As a psychology student particularly interested in gender and sexuality issues, queer is a term I am very familiar with. Finding it scrawled on the walls of a building while urban exploring (instead of a text book or during a lecture/power point presentation) was so out of context it took me a few seconds to readjust. While I doubt the authors of this very deep and insightful statement use the word queer in anything but a derogatory way, I, on another hand, have never actually heard the word queer used in a negative way. So stumbling upon this graffiti was to me like coming across a well-hidden Banksy: being let in on a well-kept secret, a sense of wonderment, a touch of humour and a sense of sharing an inside joke. Well, if you like Banksy that is.
Towards the O2/Millenium Dome/Monstrosity (delete as applicable)
Once I’d recovered from these unexpected philosophical musings on queer sexuality, we moved on up the front part of the building via the stairs. Once we reached the top floor, access to the roof was blocked from inside, so we had to go outside and go up two levels of scaffolding to reach the roof. Once there we appreciated the view and took some pictures before going back down the same way we came. The only other way out was at the front of the building, but this led right on to Stratford High Street, so to ensure our exit remained undisturbed we opted to go back out the same way we came in.
Stratford High Street, with a bit of the O2 to the left, Canary Wharf in the centre and the Athena Tower to the right
Unfortunately it’s the first time I took night-time pictures with my digital camera, so was less than happy with the results, considering I was able to take stunning pictures with my old Olympus OM10 film camera. I hope and expect more practice will make future pictures more memorable.
The Crane from the roof (drooling... oh my baby...
)
Location: Stratford London E16
Floors: 11
Height: 34 metres[/B]
Stratford Station
After attempting unsuccessfully to go to the top of the Athena building, my friend D and myself decided to move a little bit down the road to visit a building of a much more modest height, The Edge, 1A Lett Road.
Climbing up the scaffolding at the back of the building to the first floor, we breezed into the building unhindered by anything, bar a little anxiety and hesitation due to having had to deal with a very aggressive security guard just a few days previously during our epic Athena fail (http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=42153)
Towards the Olympic Stadium
We found the stairs and went up to the 5th floor, which is as high as the back of the building went. Once at the top of this side of the building, we moved round to the front of the building so as to be able to keep moving up.
Queers live here
Before we had a chance to do so, however, I came across a graffiti which read: "Queers live here". This was a bit of a shock, though for unexpected reasons. As a psychology student particularly interested in gender and sexuality issues, queer is a term I am very familiar with. Finding it scrawled on the walls of a building while urban exploring (instead of a text book or during a lecture/power point presentation) was so out of context it took me a few seconds to readjust. While I doubt the authors of this very deep and insightful statement use the word queer in anything but a derogatory way, I, on another hand, have never actually heard the word queer used in a negative way. So stumbling upon this graffiti was to me like coming across a well-hidden Banksy: being let in on a well-kept secret, a sense of wonderment, a touch of humour and a sense of sharing an inside joke. Well, if you like Banksy that is.
Towards the O2/Millenium Dome/Monstrosity (delete as applicable)
Once I’d recovered from these unexpected philosophical musings on queer sexuality, we moved on up the front part of the building via the stairs. Once we reached the top floor, access to the roof was blocked from inside, so we had to go outside and go up two levels of scaffolding to reach the roof. Once there we appreciated the view and took some pictures before going back down the same way we came. The only other way out was at the front of the building, but this led right on to Stratford High Street, so to ensure our exit remained undisturbed we opted to go back out the same way we came in.
Stratford High Street, with a bit of the O2 to the left, Canary Wharf in the centre and the Athena Tower to the right
Unfortunately it’s the first time I took night-time pictures with my digital camera, so was less than happy with the results, considering I was able to take stunning pictures with my old Olympus OM10 film camera. I hope and expect more practice will make future pictures more memorable.
The Crane from the roof (drooling... oh my baby...
)
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