I appear to have touched a nerve with my old golfing partner Paul Conneally:
Hi Tim, It's really interesting how by chance we both find connection with tunnels. The piece I collaborated with Maurice Maguire on 'Walk the Line' saw us taking residents on a walk following the line of a canal tunnel that passes under the 3 Estates in Kings Norton.
It formed part of Maurice's bigger piece 'Changing Landscapes' where he surveyed the route of the canal and marked it on the surface through the estate with blue markers - many showing the depth below of the actual canal.
Many people on the estate had no idea that the canal ran under them and those that had a notion that it did didn't know it's actual route. There are so many 'tunnels' of all kinds right under our feet and if we consider the drains, and cable conduits the amount is hard to come terms with.
I became fairly obsessed at one time with marks on pavements and roads made by gangs of labourers and egineers to guide workmen in digging to lay digital cables. I was struck by how much of the digital revolution was being built on the traditional skills of men with shovels - just like the canals, roads, and train tracks.
All that's best, Paul
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