THING OF THE WEEK
Bye bye fly… We’re soon to bid farewell to the Churchill Way flyovers in Liverpool, if £6.5m demolition plans are approved by the council. Hated by many, but loved by some, the news will disappoint the team at Friends of the Flyover, who thought we could do more with it standing than if it was rubble. The hopes were to turn the flyover into “unique urban park and venue” with cultural pop-up spaces. Perhaps the flyovers did have New York skyline-esque potential, if it hadn’t been for integral errors found in the concrete during a safety survey last year. At least the group behind the proposals, We Make Places, is still delivering events across the city, so hopefully that creative touch will be delivered elsewhere.
Born to ride… Property types are increasingly known for their participation in sport, especially if it involves Lycra. THING isn’t at liberty to cover every charity bike ride, however feels that one recent rider is worthy of respect. Muse Developments’ team gathered property friends for a 64km ride last Friday, from Wilmslow down to the bottom of Cheshire and back again. Participants were reassured that all levels of experience were encouraged, ranging from Triathlon veteran, development director Phil Mayall, to the more relaxed style of managing director Matt Crompton. Little did they know just how relaxed however; when the rest of the troupe had completed almost 60km, clever Crompton had the presence of mind to just join for the 5km at the end, which also involved the pub. Now that’s the kind of cycle ride THING can get behind…
All in your mind… City living for some is not always a walk in the park, sometimes it’s a walk down a disquieting alley or a sit down with a stranger. It can have a direct and detrimental affect on your mental health, according to the team at Urban Mind, who have created an app to try to make city living easier to navigate. The app prompts you to enter data on your current location three times a day for two weeks, and then sends you a report that summarises your experiences. People who use the app are also invited to send in pictures under ‘feeling’ categories which could be uploaded onto its website or Instagram. Urban Mind is working with housing associations in London to put the data to use to try and make urban living a little easier.
As the Crowe flies… We can all admit we’ve watched Gladiator and wanted a go on a chariot, or mused about the Herculanean effort it must have been for the Romans to build so many roads, and so damn straight. The clever people at Stanford University have endeavoured to demonstrate just how epic the Roman’s rise across Europe was, especially given the limited travel modes at their disposal, with ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World, an interactive map that gives you the time and cost to travel around the Roman Empire in 200CE. Russell Crowe is not included, but it’s still a fascinating ride through history, and shows how lucky we are to have trains and cars.
