Payback is a Bitch

26th May 2008, 08:30

I step off a bus into the centre of Ballymena, and begin a fifteen minute or so walk to a place called Ballykeel. On my way, I walk past the Tower Centre. I told Kyle I'd meet him there at 10:30. This was a lie.

26th May 2008, 08:45

I arrive in Ballykeel, and go to a bus stop near to the entrance of the housing estate Kyle resides in. My plan is simple. Draw arrows from here to wherever my Dérive takes me, then return to the bus stop and draw backwards arrows from there to Kyle's house. Then pop this in his letterbox and run away.

Simple.
I start off with a few arrows leading across the street. Pretty standard fare...


Then, suddenly...

You may be thinking to yourself now, "This arrow leads across dirt! You can't draw an arrow on dirt with chalk!" Well... you're right. Luckily, there was a suitable substitute.


Oh yes. Where there's a will, there's a man willing to draw on a tree.
And so I continued. Past a shop, down a road, past a park...

...along a riverside path...

...until I saw, across the stream, something interesting.

These are the local Army barracks, and I felt this would be a good place for someone else to continue. So I left the chalk and a message...

...and made my way back to the bus stop.

26th May 2008, 09:15

I drew my remaining reverse arrows from the first one back through Kyle's housing estate until I got to his house. I drew my last (the first) arrow, then walked up to his house. I notice that he has a mailbox outside his house... I could've swore he had a slot in the door... How am I going to get this letter somewhere he's likely to notice it?

As I stand there outside his front door screwing about with his mailbox, Kyle's mum opens the door. D= Being a generally kay person, she does the one thing I don't want to happen: she invites me in. NOOOO! My cover shall be blown! About five minutes later, Kyle walks into the living room whilst I'm sitting, holding a letter, looking like a fool...
"Uhm, hey Flea, what are you doing here..?"
"Uhm... well I just... you know... came to drop this off."
"O...K... What is it?"
"Uhm... I'll tell you later.
"Right... bye then."
"Bye."
And I leave.

26th May 2008, 09:30

Kyle's not due to leave his house for another half hour yet, so I spent the majority of this time wandering around thinking. "Well, he knows I'm already here. The letter's told him to follow the arrows, so he'll assume that's where I'll be." Then, the idea hits me: I'll follow him whilst he's following the arrows, not get noticed, and get to the end first! Bingo!
So, after waiting... and waiting... and waiting...

26th May 2008, 10:00

Kyle walks out of his housing estate. I can see this because I am peeking through a gap between the side and back walls of the bus stop. Suddenly, I realise: there's a huge gap between the bottom of the wall and floor. He'll be able to see my feet! Upon noticing this, I quickly hop up onto a tiny protrusion which borders each wall. With one foot on each wall, I hang and hope that I won't be noticed at this early stage. Kyle crosses the road, as the arrows direct him to. Meanwhile, I lower myself down and stand. He's walking right past me. If he looks across to this side of the road, he will see me. Luckily, he doesn't, and I get my first snaps.


Now, if you look closely at the second picture, you will see a shop called "MACE", with blue shutters. Kyle will be going past it, following the arrows. The only way I'll be able to get a shot of his there is if I get behind the houses next to him. The only way I can get there without running straight past him is to run through the housing estate you can see in the first picture. I wait until he's a safe distance away, then...

...RUN...

...AND RUN...

...AND RUN.
I arrive at the house and crouch behind a low wall. There's no sign of him. If he's already gone, I can catch him easily at the next good place, but then I risk missing him here if he hasn't already gone. If he hasn't already gone, I can get him here and there, but only if I wait, and risk missing him in both.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
I waited... and waited... and just when it seemed like there was no hope...

And, if you look at the top right corner, you can see the top of the shutters! Awesome. Now it's just a quick dash behind the shop and I can beat him to the old peoples' home. I run around the back of the shop, and crouch behind another wall. This one was tricky. I hadn't seen down around here before, and the hill managed to obscure the other side from sight, where the home would be if it was there. I could check, but then I risk being caught. I could wait, but then I risk missing him entirely because he's somewhere else.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
I waited... and sure enough, he walked past.

I was dashing towards my next spot and, sure enough, ended up crouched behind a wall. This was near the park. A guy walked past with his dog. The dog started barking. Kyle looked over this direction, and I ran. I could've swore my cover was completely blown, he was looking right at me! Turns out though, he "thought I was the dog", and just walked on.

So, one photo opportunity missed, but there's still one more chance. As he walks down the riverside path, far above I stand, armed with my camera and being stung by several varieties of nettles. I take my final picture.

I run around some bushes, down a path, and sit at the end and wait. Suddenly I notice: The chalk is already gone! With no arrows to be seen, it seems someone just really wanted chalk... A few moments later, he walks up the path and I check to see if I've succeeded...
"Did you see?"
"See what?"
"See me take any of these?"
I won.