Drift

Just before the semester break, my groupmates and I has followed the guidance of Guy Debord and undertake a situationist 'drift' around London. In this 'drift' we are not suppose to plan our route and experience the city by surprise. However, my groupmates and I set an aim for our 'drift' - looking for the 12 Chinese animals zodiac. In another word, it means that we will be 'drifting' (by walking) around London until we find the 12 Chinese animals zodiac, if we can't find them all, we will be continue walking and no one can be dismissed from the 'drift'. However, the post below will not be illustrating the 12 animals that we found during the 'drift', but instead it will be discussing about the feeling and the things I came across during the drift.

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On the actual day, we were suppose to gather in Charing Cross Station at 12pm. However, I was early that day, I thought that it might be good that I could grab some coffee and a sandwich to fill my stomach a little before the 'drift'. After I bought my latte and salmon sandwich, I sat on the bench outside WHSmith to wait for the others to come. Charing Cross Station is a rather big station, everyone here seems busy, I can see most of them are rushing to work or to class.

There is man in his early 40s standing infront of me, facing the exit of the train station, he looks excited, he can't even stand still. I assume that he is waiting for someone. Indeed, after 5 - 10 minutes, a young girl (probably the age of 10) is running towards him with a man following behind her. They hugged and kissed each other on their cheek, chat a little and they went off. I could see that the man waiting just now as well as the little girl are both very happy to see each other, probably they had waited for this day to come for quite some time. I must say, luckily I came earlier or else I wouldn't have had a chance to witness this scene here. The scenario felt like a movie setting, but in reality. It really makes me realize that our life is just like a movie, and a movie is a play of another person's life. This is probably what William Mitchell claimed, the city as the urban mise-en-scene.

Trafalgar Square - the name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, a British naval victory of the Napoleonic War over France. 

In this area, you might find a few sculptures and statues here. Although I may not learn about the history of London nor read about the story of Horatio Nelson (the monument in the center of Trafalgar Square), but by just standing in the middle of the square looking around, you can feel the how these sculptures provide a meaning to this place, to the people and to London. It enables a continuity to remembrance especially in the sense that there are events and names which should never be forgotten. A city is not just made up from modern buildings, gathering and interaction of different cultures, but also the nostalgic memories and history of the place. 

The signage and the motorbike in this picture having a same scheme of colour coordination. 

Black with a hint of yellow and blue.

this picture has a very interesting element in it.
Presumably that this grey box is an electricity box (seeing from the cable that links out from the metal box) of an international bank (seeing from the logo), it has been covered with different kind of stickers with different expression.
It has a feel like the bank has allowed the people to help to beautify it's boring and plain electricity box with their own expression of stickers. With that, it also shows a cross element of serious and fun, which this is how the city is portrayed - serious working place and fun place to travel.

This picture is taken from the British Museum - a bunch of primary school students gathered in the museum.

Seeing the students running around looking for answers for their question sheet reminds me of my primary school days that I used to have these kind of school trip to different places.

There are even more students gathering in the lobby of the museum.

Even more memories of my school trips.

 I have seen a lot of pictures about this place, every picture of the glass roof never fails to impress me and by standing there looking with my naked eye, I in awe over it.

The architecture design of this museum has tell a story of this city, it is modern (glass roof) and historial (the column designs) too.

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Above are my little findings from the 'drift'. I have posted a video below about our group's 'drifting' adventure. I apologise for the watermark that appears throughout the video, as I am relatively new in editing video.

Hope you enjoy!