Passage #417: 23 August 2017
The Bends
The streets are wonderful and full of wonder, expressed most fully in the shapes they take on while getting us from place to place. There are the sharp angles, the long diagonals and the rectilinear blocks; but above all, there are the curves. There are the functional curves that follow topography, rivers and the like, but these are not so interesting as the others - those that are arbitrary, aesthetic or accidental. These otherwise frivolous curves are often the most rewarding, whether in the mental stimulation that comes from breaking the monotony of the regular street grid or simply in the physical sensation of your own momentum as you round the bend. They offer reminders that you are a body moving through space, that your path needn't be straight. This week, we pack as many curves as we can into a route that goes nowhere in particular but hopefully manages to make the most of the places it does go. One can have too much of a good thing, naturally, but we have not let that stop us in the past. If the typical Passage ride lies somewhere between pleasantly exhausting and exhaustingly pleasant, this one certainly bends more toward the latter.
 |
 |
