Castle Frank.
Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:42 am
There's a double-layered bridge at Castle-Frank, one layer for cars and pedestrians, and another for subway trains. I love to stand and admire the view into the landscape below; from this tiny vantage one can see valleys and rivers and roads and green trees, all below oneself, in a scale that looks like one could reach out and fit it in one's palm.
Now, when I was young, they installed some form of wire architecture all around the bridge, which blocked the view as well as any attempts of pedestrians to go over the bridge. Later I learned that this was the site of numerous suicides. It bothered me to see this abomination of utile art, disrupting my perfect view, but what disturbed me far more was the thought that people jumped to their premature deaths right into this beautiful scenery that I am so fond of. What puzzles me is this; what kind of person could see these images and not realise that they would need to stand there and admire the view for an entire moment after they began to fall?
So, I went to the east end today. I hate the east end, but at least I got to pass by Castle Frank Station, which goes under the Prince Edward Viaduct. Still a fantastic sight, I love bridges. The "luminous veil", the wire structure preventing suicides, is goddamn hideous, though. I can't believe that they didn't realise that they'd just jump somewhere else. The writing is lousy because I wrote this all on the subway immediately as it came to mind, and I haven't bothered editing it yet. In particular I know exactly what I mean to say for that last line, but I can't phrase it properly yet. What I was imagining in my head was a man standing there, prepared to jump, but he can't because he has to keep looking over the edge and thinking how pretty everything is and postponing his jump indefinitely, just to savour the view.
Now, when I was young, they installed some form of wire architecture all around the bridge, which blocked the view as well as any attempts of pedestrians to go over the bridge. Later I learned that this was the site of numerous suicides. It bothered me to see this abomination of utile art, disrupting my perfect view, but what disturbed me far more was the thought that people jumped to their premature deaths right into this beautiful scenery that I am so fond of. What puzzles me is this; what kind of person could see these images and not realise that they would need to stand there and admire the view for an entire moment after they began to fall?
So, I went to the east end today. I hate the east end, but at least I got to pass by Castle Frank Station, which goes under the Prince Edward Viaduct. Still a fantastic sight, I love bridges. The "luminous veil", the wire structure preventing suicides, is goddamn hideous, though. I can't believe that they didn't realise that they'd just jump somewhere else. The writing is lousy because I wrote this all on the subway immediately as it came to mind, and I haven't bothered editing it yet. In particular I know exactly what I mean to say for that last line, but I can't phrase it properly yet. What I was imagining in my head was a man standing there, prepared to jump, but he can't because he has to keep looking over the edge and thinking how pretty everything is and postponing his jump indefinitely, just to savour the view.
