The view from the Parade

Time for a new adventure! It's almost a new year, with new challenges, new adventures, new conquests, all within the same old town that is Shrewsbury, best known for being the birthplace of Charlie D, our Lord and Master whose shrine is almost visible from todays adventure. Shrewsbury is also home of the first ever skyscraper, the artist of the walking dead, and a billion other creative minds, some of which I've met and others I'd love to meet. I would be bold enough to say that Darwin is an over-milked teat unfairly overshadowing what else the town has to offer, but last time I dared speak such blasphemy, his divine powers devolved me all the way back to being a quadruped, and that just wasn't practical for me. I imagine if I was at least feline I could do wonders with a Go-Pro, but this wasn't to be. But I digress.

There is a lot of beauty in this world. One of the things I never want to do is reach a point where I take it all for granted. I could stay in and watch TV or read, and be a sensible adult and buy those newspaper things everyone harps on about. However, in my experience it's very difficult to be happy and read the newspaper, or watch the news. The news comes on, tells you "Good Evening" and then spends your time telling you exactly why it isn't that at all. And here in the UK we "have to" pay TV license (Plot twist- we actually don't!). You see, there's a lot of fear mongering going on. I stopped paying TV license when I realised I shouldn't be paying my money to sit on my bottom, being made to feel miserable in my downtime, and I stopped watching TV altogether when I realised that I had options other than sitting on my bottom feeling miserable. It concerns me greatly that as a species our recreational activities are becoming as automonous as our work.

When it comes to rooftopping, there is still fear. Unlike TV license fear, rooftopping fear actually has an instinctive logical reason and isn't just a product of fear mongering. But even so, it's an instinct best ignored.
While I am wary of the consequences of my actions sometimes, from either gravity or from an authority figure who catches me in the act, I like to think I have the skills to avoid these consequences, and also I have hope that the police would understand that I am a danger only to myself and that the experience I am seeking is one that, upon knowing it is obtainable, is not one I can simply grow old without experiencing. The police are humans just like me and you. They understand that we do not pay 40-50 thousand pounds a year just for them to get rid of people sat on rooftops with cameras.

Remove fear from your life and the world is yours for the taking. It's a beautiful world, and it should be enjoyed by everyone.

And thats what I planned on telling anyone if I got caught recently climbing the Parade Shopping Centre!

This is perhaps one of the trickiest climbs ever, but it was so worth the effort.

Construction of this epic building began in 1826 and ended in 1830. It was originally the Royal Salop Infirmary, and is rumoured to be haunted by the ghosts of former patients and nurses. You can see in the above photo near the door two apparitions of dead traffic cones, squashed beneath parking videos. You can tell that they're ghosts because they're blue, not red. A medium told me so. An expansion was added in 1870, and in 1915 balconies were added so that patients who had fought in the first world war could enjoy a view of the river.
After the second world war, an operating theatre suite was added to the roof, and a sluice block. However these features were apparently removed when it became a shopping centre with some 30+ flats on the upper floors, apparently to bring it back to its original look.
It ceased being a hospital in 1977 and today is a shopping centre.

Because Shrewsbury is a sloped town built on a hill, the Parade Shopping Centre in spite of not being a tall building has a pretty epic view from the top.

Click a picture to see it big.

Above looks over the river to Abbey Forgate, and the Lord Hill Column in the distance. 

Above: The golden illuminated building in the middle-background is the library.It is there that we'd be able to see the shrine to our Lord and Master Charlie D, if only we were higher... Or if he was higher. You make the effort, Darwin!

And then we have this excellent shot of the rest of Shrewsbury, showing St Juliens and St Alkmunds churches, with the market tower and St Chads looming in the distance.

Here's a "close up" from further along the roof.

St Marys Church is actually right next to the Parade but since it was impossible to climb this place with a tripod, I wasn't able to capture the entire tower in a long exposure, as there wasn't a means to angle the camera correctly. But I do like how the stars came out in the shot, and lets face it, you saw plenty of St Mary's in the last post. 

Which brings me to the cheeky part. You see, something like a gorilla-pod would really work wonders for long exposures on rooftops. I work for pittance and I'm currently in dispute with the DWP to find out why around £76 a month is getting deducted from my minimum wage earnings. So far they've found no reason for why it is happening, and my bosses are stumped too, and yet this money has gone, and when I say naughty things like "If there's no record of why it's being taken, can I have it back?" they cease their correspondence. And while I am still earning enough to live off, (so don't worry for me on that front) it means I'm a little strained for luxury purchases. It also makes me wonder how many other people this is happening to, where their hard earned money is stolen by the powers that be without explanation, and without assistance in rectifying the mistakes. I think the reason why we're not taught law in school is because this way authority figures can come along and do things and we just go along with it even if they are in the wrong. But I digress.

I lack the immediate financial means to give Shrewsbury From Where You Are Not the push it deserves, and up in the corner of this blog is a donate button. All donations will go to the adventure fund and this will include a smaller, portable tripod with bendy legs that wrap around things, as well as a go-pro. I know it's cheeky to ask, but I so rarely get less than a thousand reads and if each reader donated just £1 the result would be phenominal.

Of course, since it's cheeky to ask there's no pressure. Whats far more important to me is that you all check your payslips, and question anything odd, and most importantly of all, be nice to each other. So many complain about how bad the world is, but surely that would ease the pressure. The government will probably always be rather shit. What matters is how we treat each other.

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Stay awesome!