Route from Bus Station
Stepping from the bus onto the platform is like falling into a different planet. An unknown setting of roaring engines combined with the odour of diesel sitting heavy in the air, a headache begins to stir in your head. Sirens in the distance signal that this place is city based.
Following the footsteps of the crowds from the crumbling pavements and slight smell of urine that only public bus stations manage to get away with, you head to the gleaming brightness of what can only be a shopping centre.
Unbearably bright artificial lights, hordes of bustling people pushing their way to their destination with a fist full of rustling plastic bags in one hand and a mobile phone in the other, you veer to one side following the wall to the right escaping onto a quieter path. The lighting begin to dim as you continue and the space opens out feeling slightly wider with less people. The sound of an automatic door opening and closing followed by a sharp gust of wind brings in the smells of flowers, herbs and plants blending and harshly contrasting with the smells of the traffic and busy city life. Walking through the doors you lose the comfort of mechanically heated space and are hit with the reality of fresh air and know that you are exposed to the elements. Drops of rain can now be heard beating down upon the ground and as you exit you feel them.
Overhead traffic can be heard humming past, splashing through puddles. It is the morning and the smell of coffee from a newly established local cafe is diluted slightly with the scent of damp woodchips from a path leading to the park space. Following the scent along the path it transforms into a sweet fragrance of freshly cut grass that can only be from a garden space that has been created amongst this metropolitan setting. Slowly the petrol fumes and burning rubber departs the senses and are forgotten momentarily. The sound of hard footsteps on concrete disintegrates into the air and becomes a softer crunch and then a soft padded lapping of the feet upon slightly wet grass.
Stretching out a hand the feeling of high feather reed grass blowing in the wind brushes your fingers, it acts as a boundary and you realise not to cross that line. A distant splash of water can be heard echoing inside the building beyond, at this very moment a waft of chlorine hits the nostrils and the memory of childhood swimming lessons immediately jumps to the forefront of your mind. This must be the leisure centre.
Wandering towards the smell and sounds another automatic door opens and blasts a sharp burst of heat onto you as you pass through signalling that you are now within a new building. The smell of chlorine is no longer present and you also realise the apparent sound of pool activity has also gone. It was actually an audio speaker from outside helping aid navigation to the right building. The floor finish changes again to first a blistered vinyl flooring as it slopes up and then continuing to a slightly harder echoing tiled floor. You are welcomed by a member of staff into the building and told that a tactile map and audio description of the building layout is ahead of you on the reception desk and that there is information regarding your location to the left of every door in the facility and basic directional information can be found in braille along the handrails in the corridors.
You feel on the nearest handrail the braille which tells you that the pool changing rooms are to the left of the reception desk past the smell of chocolate and into a space with the sound of the sea. Confused, you wander forward cautiously and from above you feel an air current blowing a small amount of air with the scent of chocolate out into the space. Slowly moving on through a set of automatic sliding doors you notice a speaker to your left playing the audio of waves crashing onto the beach, you are in the changing rooms. Finding a private changing room and then placing your clothes into the locker within was simple enough. Braille writing within the cubicle told you to turn right out of the cubicle and follow the line of rough tiles in the centre of the space to the pre-swim showers. Stepping out of the cubicle you carefully feel the ground with your bare foot and can easily identify the rough row of tiles. You follow them for a few steps, stopping to allow someone else to pass in the opposite direction and then hear flowing water of the showers. After showering you here the poolside is obviously straight ahead. Following the rough tiles again you make your way to the very edge of the pool where initially there is a balustrade and handrail and then the floor slopes down into the water gradually submerging you deeper and deeper until you are waist deep and can swim.......
.jpg)
