Chester Walls

It’s a warm summer evening. I love it when the weather is like this. It doesn’t get dark until late, and when it does, it seems to get dark slowly as the air starts to cool down.

It’s always strange being home from university:

People have moved on,
Our paths have drifted apart,
They barely cross anymore.

It sometimes feels quite lonely.

I feel restless – I want to be outside enjoying the summer evenings.

My brother decides he wants to go free running.
I jump at the chance, to get out of the house, although I know it will mean lots of traipsing around where he wants to go.
Maybe I’ll get some decent photos though.

So I grab my camera and my box of cards off we go.

I go outside and breathe in the fresh air and feel it circulate around my body. Replacing the humid, warm air of a hot, stuffy day.

My brother picks his best spots.
And I stand around while he looks around planning his jumps.

I take one of my stickers out of my box and put it on the lamppost. I don’t often like to leave the stickers, as it’s not the same as finding a card. But I think tonight it will just be the stickers, as I never leave them. They never get chosen, so I feel like I leave them out.

My brother has planned his jump.
He calls me over to watch.
I get my camera, and take a few photographs as he repeats his jumps in different ways.

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Town Centre – Chester

He has exhausted that spot.

He moves on.
Away from the walls.
Down some back streets,

I follow.

We walk past The Gateway where we both used to attend the youth theatre. Just opposite it is the alleyway where the professional free runners jumped when they came to Chester.
Daniel studies the jump. Wishing that he could do it. But he sticks to smaller ones.

Here I leave two stickers:

One I leave on a railing by the entrance to the car park.

Nearby there is some stencil graffiti of a gas mask. I take a photo of it. Daniel notices and tells me it is Adam’s.

The other I put on a lamppost.
I can see the remains of where a previous sticker had been placed.
Now all washed and peeled away,
Only the white mark left.
I place the sticker of the top of this.

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Commerce House – Chester

Commerce house – the memories return.

This is where I used to come when I was younger.
Every single weekend and after school when I could.
We would all congregate here.

It had lots of steps and slopes, which the skaters and bladers loved. Perfect for practising new
tricks.

Now they have fenced it all off.
And tried to remove anything that could have been used for tricks.
To keep the youth away I suppose.

It was a disused building then.
I don’t know if it still is,

I put a sticker on the lamppost:
‘Never forget you’re free’