'The Basin': Stopgates [Draft 1.0]

 

All Images: Bristol Floating Harbour, Entrance Locks, April 2019-June 2023

Stoppages interrupt the flow at various points in the system. This arrangement provided flexibility of operation, with the Basin being used as a lock when there were large numbers of arrivals and sailings. A level will occur anytime between 1 hour and 10 minutes to 20 minutes before high water and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes after high water.  At other times, recalcitrant barriers dam the infamous fluctuations between brooding ramparts (a modest increase having regard to the ever-increasing size of ships). It is impossible to ignore the cartographic sectioning brought about through the insertion of the valves, or the bladdering of the basin itself. Despite the geometries of containment, multiple small incontinences raise doubts throughout the extended system. They may indicate both mortal foreboding and infantile anxieties.Tides of 9.6m and over are stopgate tides, but tides of 9.1m to 9.6m may become stopgate tides if the level of tide is higher than predicted.

Our progress is punctuated by such interventions, and we are required to teeter on deviant planks. Alternate perspectives are applied. A single step-up occasions vertigo here, and a vee-formation must be adopted. Silhouetting effects can only emphasise a certain fragility in the surmounting assembly. However, turbulence should not be experienced when the lock is being emptied, and steel pistons (puzzling in their articulation) thrust from die-cut shadows in a bolstering of archaeology. New angles have been described. Whilst a leap of faith might be implied, the data-driven athletes still spring across - hesitating only for cursory bicep readings. Conversely, visitation-lingering effects may also impede progress or image composition. A recreational spectrum is clearly evident, although hazardous operations take place in this area with potentially dangerous installations. Risk assessment ultimately rests upon variable adhesion levels. There is no public right of way, but to make the crossing is also to span the pooling years. Please ensure your ropes are clear on their cleats, will not jam, and are tended continuously.

The maximum size of vessel which can be accepted is determined by conditions in the river and the dredged depth in the harbour. The comedy of the historical record can be relished at this juncture (note that confirmation from the Marine Services Supervisor is required). Can the subversion of a cylindrical reputation, with floating hinged gates known as ship-caissoons (local spelling), be resisted? Certainly, exponential advance must collide with physics or oversight eventually. Ballast chambers were prone to silting up because of the silt-laden tidal water and the lock was only 54 feet wide. Entropy will prevail and obsolescence was built-in here. A sense of imprisonment is inescapable, so call the Marine Services Supervisor on VHF Channel 14 as you pass. The route to this gullet already cleared a preferable mouth, which experiences the second largest tidal range in the world.

Coping stones and platforms were removed over-night and the ship sailed the following morning.

The Basin: The Plates [Draft 1.0]

 

All Images: Entrance Locks, Bristol Floating Harbour, April 2019- June 2023

Here, amongst the plates, territory has been systematically annexed. The methodology is both cast iron and set in stone. Four-square beats prevailed on the journey down, and we are captivated by the poetics of insertion. All the plates are similar in that the upper surface is patterned with rows of small square blocks within a plain border. They encompass a tesseract of elements. Oxidisation is inevitable and geological time accelerates accordingly. Weather systems are entered into a spreadsheet of quivering light. Our records show that, previously, there was a dark ledger - with each triangular cargo packed tight. The third beat is a legacy, twice displaced. An elevated viewpoint indicates how the necessary colonisation might operate through cartographic shading. Original sets of plates were recorded by the Ordnance Survey at 1:500 scale where, confusingly, they were hatched in the manner of built structures.

 

In this region our progress is constrained by a ductile geometry associated with the hydraulic operating system for the lock gates and sluices. The flows are directed and there is both a channelling and harnessing beneath the plane (porous space). Water acts upon small gun metal pistons in cylinders, which set in motion the gear of the particular machine acted upon. The machines of projection and reflection are of prime importance but many other such devices can operate in chains of affect. They may be recognised on the ground because the stone blocks surrounding them are fixed together with butterfly-shaped iron cramps or ties. Flush with the quay surface are perforated circular plates covering air shafts. The diameter of the pipes conveying the water round the system varies but is mostly 7 inches. Some of the plates have slots for operating levers. Since liquids generally are virtually incompressible, it is possible to develop very high pressures with almost no reduction in their volume (pressure drop). Repression is thus rendered futile. Despite the best efforts of the engineers, our charts and geo-positioning have led us to an empire of obsolescence.

There will be a presumption in favour of preserving any archaeological features or sites of notional importance, whether scheduled or not. The surface is fragile, and narratives may bend or crack. A suitable strategy has been put forward to mitigate the impact (no vehicles on steel plates). Provision for adequately recording the site prior to destruction is made, to allow essential recording and publication to take place. Notes, drawings and measurements were made, and 35mm black and white and digital colour photographs taken. Many rolls of film were archived in negative form. Polyrhythmic accounts are overlaid in historical counterpoint, and time flows in accordance with the tides. Previously, there had been an archaeological watching brief during preparatory geotechnical investigations, and observations made in a range of weather conditions have been documented. A geotechnical borehole was drilled to a depth of 16.90m, but no solid geology was encountered. Memorialists submit they are entitled to such relief as the city authorities can afford.

Bristol Derive 4: Umbridge [re_configure]

All Photo-Manipulations: May 2023

[Reconfigured Appropriated Texts]:

Our vision is for bus services people can depend on, are quick and reliable, combine to form a simple to understand and easy to use network, are accessible for everyone, are safe and comfortable - and I know a transport plan should be about rather more than just personal aesthetics. Last time I looked at it there were rust holes in the structure that you could put your arm through! (arm sizes can go up and down, also it was a while back so it may have been sorted by now). The objective within each of these corridors is not simply to improve public transport journey times, service frequency and reliability - but things change. Whatever the past use, that bridge is now a magical little spot, especially at dusk. Our proposals will deliver immediate and longer-term benefits to residents and visitors by making it easier to travel in and around the region. Come and collect leaflets to give to your friends and family.

All Original Images: South Bristol, February & April 2023

You should refrain from assuming that I don’t know what I’m talking about, just because I disagree with you.The corridors were selected and prioritised according to: existing highway congestion, connecting households with employment and education, current and future patronage, supporting areas of deprivation, and deliverability. I suspect the H&SE may ask for more than that and a coat of paint when you’ve got holes in the structures. We have a unique opportunity to further enhance our productive economy, ensuring everyone across society reaps the benefits and does so sustainably. You see a new doughnut place, you get off the road, go back to said doughnut place, eat a doughnut, get back on your way, no worries. I see transport as being integral to capitalising on that opportunity. Make a little time for improvements to the operational efficiency of ticketing on Wednesday. A photo with masses of objectors will speak more loudly than interchanges between journey nodes and modes.

There is a large risk that a photo with masses of objectors constrains this opportunity to grow and limits our ability to level up across society whilst delivering an environmentally sustainable transport network. Surely if you see a group of people trying to prevent your commute route being turned into a poorly designed bus carbuncle, you at least take an interest. We need to act now to rectify an under-performing network and mitigate this risk. I really do hate being in photos and would prefer to hide behind people, which is difficult when only three people and a stray dog turn up. We need to ensure that our public transport provision is reliable, with improved connectivity and an excellent passenger experience. it always brings to mind film gem ‘The Station Agent’, or perhaps a strangely-rural corner of Brooklyn. Delivering high quality bus services is a crucial part of achieving that vision.

Maximising this opportunity has UK wide benefits such as the development of UK-wide supply chains in innovative sectors and providing the goods and services required to further promote domestic advanced manufacturing, financial services and legal technology, and the creative industries. I like its pleasantly shabby ambience - and the public realm surrounding network access points. it would be a damn shame if it was to be an expensive, poor-value & somewhat unnecessary scheme for people to switch to active modes. I’ve lived here for a decade and have never known a city that actually gets so little done in terms of developing infrastructure. City corridors are where a high level of separation is possible and desired. Interestingly, nobody seemed to stop mid-commute -  lots of cyclists just glared at us or dinged their way through the potential for people’s behaviour to change in response to investment. Basically, they just want to slap down some infrastructure.

FFS! I was getting more relaxed in my old age, but this kind of nonsense might just turn me back… [1.]

[1.]: Includes reconfigured excerpts from:

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bristol-brt2-route-ashton-avenue-bridge/

https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/transport/mass-transit/

Bristol Derives 3: Remembridge [re_configure]

 

All Photo-Manipulations: May 2023

[Reconfigured Appropriated Text]:

Categories of Listed Building

There are three types of listed status for buildings in England and Wales 

• Grade I: Buildings of exceptional interest: 

            [a.]:  Monuments of recognisable/instantaneous poetic resonance [including the 

                    deliciously mundane, as well as the weird and/or eerie]

            [b.]:  Monuments likely to trigger artistic activity [on a sliding scale of 

                    relevance/irrelevance]

             

• Grade II*: Particularly important buildings of more than special interest:

             [a.]:  Key monuments of autobiographical significance [verifiable/documented by                        photographic or other historical evidence]

            [b.]:  Key monuments of autobiographical significance [imagined or subject to false                            memory, and including elements of personal mythology/fake                     

                    narrative, dreams, neurosis or other psychologoclgical disorder]

              

• Grade II: Buildings that are of special interest:

             [a.]:  Monuments suspended in an indeterminate/provisional/unresolved 'present'

            [b.]:  Monuments pointing towards past/future simultaneously [cyclical/vertical-slice 

                    chronology]

            [c.]:  Monuments to lost/imagined futures, failed utopias, misguided strategies, as well as                     those likely to play significant role in proposed future archeologies

            [d.]:  Portals

      

                        

There was formerly a non-statutory Grade III, which was abolished in 1970. This included monuments related to delusion, pharmaceutical intoxication, hallucination, baseless rumour, conspiracy theory, pseudoscience, parochial superstition and excess religiosity.

Listed buildings account for about 2% of English building stock. In March 2010, there were about 374,000 list entries of which 92% were Grade II, 5.5% were Grade II*, and 2.5% were Grade I. 

Statutory Criteria

The criteria for listing include architectural interest, historic interest and close historical associations with significant people or events. Buildings not individually noteworthy may still be listed if they form part of a group that is—for example, all the buildings in a square. This is called 'group value'. Sometimes large areas comprising many buildings may not justify listing but receive the looser protection of designation as a conservation area.

 

The specific criteria include:

• The nocturnal march to some inner venue [the search for connection]
• Short-circuiting an adjacent existence [the south bank of the south bank]
• The most recent incision [a jump onto the Spike] 
• A winding path between the Bonds [the cliff of blank eyes/a thousand cells]
• Corroded mesh and blistering angle-iron [the threaded encroachment/an unwanted seeding]
• Steel plate erosion [river glimpses between an awkward measure]
• The shadow lattice [altitude projectors on quivering stems]
• An abandoned shunt [the decommissioning/the carbon traces]

The state of repair of a building, or degree of applicable on-line outrage, are not deemed to be  relevant considerations for listing. [1.]

[1.]:  Includes excerpts from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listed_building