I left my house and took a walk around somewhere which isn't boring if you know where to look.

Chapter 1 - The Path

Walking up through a housing estate, and everything has a beautiful orange glow from the streetlights. I love it.

Unfortunately, my camera does not...

I walked past a few junctions and turned around and took a few pictures.

Roads are a lot more shiny than you would expect them to be.

Walking up to what first appears to be a dead end, a secret becomes apparent...

A hole in the hedge, and the worn away grass leading up shows that I wasn't the first to venture through, I'm fairly sure I won't be the last either.

A long dirt path stretches out before me. Muddy and quite slippery where tyres have drove back and forth over them, but the patch in between is far more stable. There's grass growing on it, but it had been raining, so it was still fairly slippery. I had to watch my step to prevent gravity from succeeding in its ultimate quest to make things fall over.

Indeed.

Around halfway down the path (which was surprisingly long), I didn't find a fence. I should have, but I did not, for there was a gaping big hole in it. On the other side of this hole was the driveway of someone's house, with a car parked in it.

So what caused the missing part of fence, hmm?

I'm no CSI, but I'm gonna say it was the car.

I eventually reached the end of the path, so figured it was time to explore a new part of the little place where I live.

Chapter 2 - The Park

Of all places, I decided to explore the park because it doesn't fit the idea of night-time photography. Once the sun goes down, anyone who would want to go to the park would be tucked into their little beds. Parks are unsuitable for the night-time, for the same reasons you don't get daytime hookers (or you shouldn't, in any case..). The park itself is awful, plain and simple. Most parks have that sort of soft rubber ground that still hurts when you fall on it but kinda absorbs it. Ours still has stones, which is very, very easy to hide broken glass in...

Still, can't be moanin', got pictures to take!

My first point of contact was the swings. You can't resist going on the swings, you just can't. Even when taking the photos, I couldn't leave without spending a minute or two on them!

Then, moving in a clockwise direction around the park, the see-saw!

Then, the boat and the house!


The slide...

I assume that stuff is paint, but I'm not going to check...
And finally, some generic small climbing frames!

Walking around the park, I thought about some of the fun times I had as a kid...

You know, before parents got worried about slicings and semen.

Well, at least the community is a wholesome one sucks, I mean, just around the corner is a small playing field patch of gravel, and there's no a hell of a lot of graffiti on the walls.


I'm personally a fan of the "graffiti wars" which seem to be going on. We have "Biddies" and "Celtic", which have been appended with "...R WANKERS" and "...R GAY" respectively. I'm personally waiting for team one to come back by putting "NOT" after the "R" in both, but after that, this game is anyone's call.
No disrespect guys, please don't shoot me. =P

Chapter 3 - The Forest and The Bridge

The two most popular "make-out" spots in Cloughmills, which just goes to show how little people here actually get.

The forest is handily fenced off with a fence that has virtually no boards in it.

We're all about security here.
The main attraction though to the forest is the fact that there is actually an intra-dimensional portal between there and the park.

Of course not! There's just a swing there too! Although it's beyond me why, of all places, someone would build a swing in a forest...

Still, a bit deeper into the forest is a small clearing with a log on each side, perfect for... well... two people to sit opposite each other, I suppose.

It's a pretty nice place though, and strangely calming, despite the fact that it's not-all-that-secluded.

I also discovered that it isn't possible to leave that forest if someone's nearby without getting really suspicious looks from them...

Still, here's a river, as seen through a plastic fence, conveniently placed to stop people falling into the river.

And here it is, seen from a bridge, just around the corner from the forest!

But to get under the bridge, you have to climb down a little wall and do stuff!

See, I've been tricked by foreshortening or something like that, I think. I've been fooled into believing that the underside of this bridge is a place where one can stand up without... well... the ability to travel though solid objects. It's quite small under there, which made actually getting through it quite difficult.


It gets better though...

Chapter 4 - The Building Beside the Bank

There's a small bank near the forest and the bridge. It might be out of use, it might not be, I'm not sure. It seems to be open from time to time despite all the signs having fallen off. But, it was behind this building where I would find the best exploration I've had in a while, and the scariest place I've been in the ever.

I wasn't expecting to find anything interesting around there, just more of the same graffiti type stuff like at the park. At first, I was right...

But then, jackpot! A broken window which is climb-into-able!

Even before I got in, I knew that I wouldn't like what was going to be inside this. Mainly because I saw this:

D=

Still, why come this far just to back out?
After climbing in the window, I ventured through the first room, through a small corridor, and into another room.

I decided to document my thoughts at this point using the art of video:

I'm ashamed of my fear, but there's no denying it. It was creepy in there, and I wasn't even done yet.

Up the stairs, and into another room.

Which had a second room attached to it...

...and a window which I promptly crawled through onto a tin roof.


After looking around to see if it were possible to get onto the main roof, I found that it was not. With the building thoroughly explored, I got out of there as fast as I could. On my way back around the front of the building though, I noticed the remnants of what I assume was the adhesive used to stick a sign onto the wall of the bank.

So, with that well and truly explored, I called it a night and returned home!