**Quick note - the first part of this praxis was done back in the heady days of April 2008, whereas the final part was only just done today. Therefore, any notes about times in the first bit should probably totally be ignored, as I'd assume you would anyway, seeing as we very rarely know what we're talking about anyway. Thank you.
Anyway, on with the show!**

(Shia's bit)

As you exit your house, turn left.

At the end of the road, turn right.

Walk 100 metres, then wait for 2
minutes.

Continue to the end of the road and
then turn right.

Ponder at the fauna as you re-tie your
shoelaces.

Cross the road and take the second
left.

Walk 125 metres, then pick up any
object you find there.

Continue 10 feet onwards.

(Haberley's bit)

Take the nearest right turn.

At the end of the road, take a left
turn.

Walk to a crossroads, then take the
turning with the most intriguing view at the end.

Upon reaching what you saw, take the
first turning you see that isn't a road.

At the next junction, turn right.

Take another right, then continue 20
metres.

(Ben's bit)

Continue to the end of this path until
you are relatively out in the open.

Place the object you retrieved earlier
in a centralised location.

Look around and photo the most vibrant
green thing you can see.

Walk in a different direction to the
one you were going in and document something that has changed since
you were last there.

Walk to an ending point of this path
and continue on 150 metres.

Ponder at the flora as you untie your
shoelaces.

Make note of the weather at this point.


(Vicki's bit)

Rest under the nearest tree

Walk straight ahead, and photograph the first bit of graffitti you see

Carry on until you find a place of business

Turn left past the shop/business and follow the road to the end

Left or right? Give reasons

Continue to the end of the road, until you meet a junction/crossroad

Follow the turning with the best view

Walk towards your starting place for 2 minutes, then take the nearest right and walk that road Lincoln style!

Shia

With real life slowing down around me, I decided it was time to add a spark of interest back into my days. And why not into the days of my friends too! So, as I stared out of the window of the train on my spontaneous journey back to my hometown, I pondered what could be done. My camera was in my pocket, fully charged and waiting. But I had things to do back home-

Back home. That would be perfect... So, stepping from the train to platform 2 of Stechford station (the back end of nowhere, I can assure you), armed with my camera in one hand and my mobile phone in the other, I began to document my leisurely stroll home.



The problem with skate shoes is that, even if you don't tie the laces up (as is the trend), they still have a tendancy to loosen themselves. So, as I turned into Lyttleton Road and Gillies Court, I stopped to retie them; noting the beautiful forget-me-nots and poppies as I did so. I didn't want my friends to miss out on such sights either, so I added this into my instructions. (Forgetting that 'fauna' means animals, and it is 'flora' that means plant life).



Turning into my road, the end was in sight. A fairly short journey for me, but I knew that it would end up considerably longer once everyone was done. Apart from the stop to admire the flora and tie shoes, it had also be largely uneventful.

But then, in my own front garden, was an additional point of interest.
Or, to be precise, a piece of rubbish.


Wondering how this would be interpreted by the others, I instructed them to 'pick any object you find there'. For me, it was just a supermarket receipt (helping the environment too, what a good little girl am I)- but who knows what the others would find.

And finally, my destination!


Haberley

I've been meaning to do a lot more Tasks than I have this past couple of weeks, but they've all fallen by the wayside through one reason or another. So when I got a message from Shia, with just the title of this Task and a set of directions, I made sure I wasn't going to miss this. Shoes on, camera out, straight out of the door before I can give myself a second thought about it.

The pictures at the end should tell most of the story, but certain things I feel need to be elaborated on...

Shia's instruction to 'pick up what you find there' really led to some interesting interpretation - I was still in the middle of a (surprisingly clean) street, with nothing directly to hand that I could pick up. That is, until I looked to my left at the houses. The instructions had led me right outside a house that was having construction work done to it, and this was in the front lawn...



Not being one to shirk from the drive for completion, I quickly annexed one of the bricks for the state of SF0. I tell you though, when people say that something's 'as heavy as a housebrick', only now do I realise just how heavy that is! Walking around in the sunshine, which before had been pleasantly warmng, was now another half-hour slog with a brick effectively tied around my neck. Still fun, but a lot more sweaty...

Also, I feel that my epic completions are going to take me places some time in the future - as I walked down a gravel path, by now not even sure I was going the right way, I found a sign left to me that was definitive proof that this was where I was meant to be. On a road I have never before seen, walking and looking at the sights with fresh eyes, I found what appeared to be my own handprint, painted on a wall with my initials right next to it...



And just at eye-level, too! I guess I was going the right way after all!

Ben



So, this is my first dérive.

When I exited my house, it occurred to me how bright things were, even at 6, 7 o'clock in the evening. It was nice to see this, "especially in a hole like Gorleston", I thought. But then I realised that the neighbourhood I live in is, in actuality, quite pleasant.

So, I stepped outside, and into the big world of tasking once again. The instructions were not too long, but this walk wouldn't be too short.



Something that I discovered about myself with this dérive is that a) I cannot take good pictures, and b) the only moderately good shot I can take is the same formula, repeated over and over again (see tree shots one and two, and postbox) with an object in the foreground, blurred in the back.




I noted the following on my journey:

Change




Congruence

Symmetry


Insolence


Life



I followed the instructions very closely, and I got some interesting views of the neighbourhood around me, I think. I saw the sights of the grassy knolls and the azure skies, I smelled the smells of barbeques and acrid smoke, I heard the sounds of cooing doves and whistling wind, I felt the feelings of home.

I think the pictures explain the rest.



Even if a bird pooed RIGHT in front of me at one point.

EVIL PIGEON!

----

Vicki

Ah, the wonders of bank holidays, the weather was great, the perfect excuse to go for a walk (that's what I told my mother anyway...).
Heading out of the house, I started the walk, the sun slowly burning my shoulders. Unfortunately the route took me along University Crescent; it's not really long, just rather boring. So I kept on walking, and ended up somewhere in the Shrublands estate. I walk this way home every day from school, but there are so many roads and alleyways, it was pretty easy to get confused. Finding the empty space I never knew existed was interesting, I thought I knew Gorleston pretty well (and Gorleston is not a hole Ben, that's GY).
I didn't realise until I got back that mine and Ben's paths actually crossed. We live about 25ish minutes from eachother, yet we somehow managed to meet in the middle. Weird huh?
My favourite pictures:
The Final Journey, by Haberley

WELL. It's been pretty much exactly a year since Shia first started this praxis, so I figured it was now or never for this. A lot has changed in a year - Shia has all but left SF0, I've moved house, and Ben and Vicki have probably forgotten completely about this task! But did it I did, and after three years of living in Stafford I can still find bits of it I never knew existed. Oh yeah, and parts of the walk were unnecessarily LONG.

The walk took me nearly two hours, over four miles of completely new terrain (walking slowly, that is), and my feet were starting to majorly blister by the end of it - and I wouldn't give the memories up for anything. The wal was just what I needed to get me out and about after my final deadlines of uni, and it was a nice easy way to get back into SF0. Plus, this was the view I was afforded by the end of it:



It may just be the rugged Brit in me, but that is the sort of thing I live to see - and it's right outside my own town! Thank you guys for a set of fantastic instructions, that led me to such a nice place! I may have to go back there sometime, when I actually know where I was...

Some of my other favourite views from the journey:


Hello again SF0, it's good to be back.