The Telling: One Street 1

the telling
of stories
from the city
listen
to one street

One Street 1

It's time for me to join in with Kendall's fabulous One Street happening.

I've spent some time considering available streets, and decided to choose one close to work where I knew I would be on at least two hundred days in a year. I've also decided to make it a 2013 challenge, which gives me the opportunity to choose a different street next year.

Great Horton Road runs from the centre of Bradford south west for three miles out to the western edge of the city. City Park lies at one end, Horton Bank Country Park at the other. Halfway along lies Great Horton, originally a medieval settlement that was incorporated into the borough of Bradford in 1847, and absorbed by the growing city during the nineteenth century.

One end of the street I know very well, as I walk a half kilometre of it most working days, and I watch the buses going up and down it from my office. The bulk of it I've never walked, so this will be a year of exploration; a transect through the city.

The fact that One Street was inspired by the work of Ursula Le Guin has extra resonance for me, as she has been ever present in my reading life for thirty five years. I don't think a year has gone by in that time where I haven't read at least one of her books. Through her I was exploring taoism, anarchism and ecology before I knew I was. As an extra dimension, where I can, I'll try to connect my One Street blips to the title of one of her books and stories, starting today with The Telling. ("Good luck with The Tombs of Atuan," I hear you all saying.)

Today's image is a scene setter, but perhaps a little nondescript. One thing I noticed in starting at the bottom of the street is that there isn't actually a street sign until you come to this convenience store some way along. It will be fun to see how many Great Horton Road I finally come across in the three mile length. Here I'm looking back down to the city centre, the Old Building of the College on the left, the cranes building something new and a glimpse of the rest of the city behind. Stories hinted at...