do you believe in the telectroscope?

Where did the Telectroscope go?

When I first saw a photo of Paul St George taking his leave of this world, and then another the next day of the Telectroscope's 'aura' burned into the boards at the Fulton Ferry Landing, I thought it was a joke:

'Call 911 the Telectroscope has Disappeared!' read the caption. It should have come as no surprise that such a magical device should leave as mysteriously as it arrived. But I did not think it had really disappeared - only that it had returned perhaps to the workshop from whence it came.

Recently though I have been trying to catch up with Paul to confirm or deny the rumours that further tunnels may be opening up soon, with new telectroscopic installations to follow. But where is Paul? I cannot find him.

He was always elusive, I know, preferring to blend into the crowds that gathered around his ancestor's invention.

But I feel sad to think that I have lost him and that the Telectroscope really might have been stolen away, never to be seen again. Better it were lingering in a yard somewhere, or perhaps locked away in a ministry building. God forbid it should be sold for parts on eBay!

Keep your eyes peeled. Let me know if you see anything that might suggest that the Telectroscope survives. I would hate to think that what you are reading now is the end of this extraordinary adventure.

A Meeting of Pugs

Paul St George has sent me a copy of his correspondence with a man who claims to have taken his dog to see to the Telectroscope in Brooklyn. Could it be true that dogs can hear people at the other end of the Tunnel?!

Dear Mr. St George

Congratulations! A brilliant installation. I have just returned from Brooklyn with my 14 year old fawn pug Maggie. I did not realize your artwork would be there.

I think of the various obstacles to arrive there at that very moment. I woke up in Manhattan to a sunny, breezy, Memorial Day holiday, not knowing what I would do today. A decision where to go, then a walk, a bus ride, a train ride, and then a walk again, brought me to the Brooklyn Fulton Landing.

When I arrived I saw the “contraption” I had heard about. I got on line and  wrote a sign. That allowed others to get in front of me. Then, at approximately 1:13 pm EST (New York Time), I peered into your “Telectrocope”  holding Maggie, my pug and the  sign “Maggie the Pug, Send Pounds”. On the other side at that very moment was a woman in  London  holding a Black Pug peering back through the “Telectroscope”. The Pugs waved to each other.

As you know pugs were a favorite in Victorian Times (Queen Victoria banned the cropping of their ears). I have been a creator of pug lore and embellished  history but truth is always stranger than fiction. This event was captured by CW Channel 11 News to be broadcast 10:00pm EST, New York. There over 150 different breeds. To have two pugs (unknown to each other) show up at the same time may be a quality that the Tibetan Monks bred for in the first place, their intuition.

All the best. John
Founder Pug Hill, NYC
www.pughill.org

Paul St George replies:

This is so special! Thank you for telling me. Can we please include your story in our blogs?

You know that dogs can hear through the Telectroscope?

Paul

To which John replies:

Paul: Please feel free to include this (and anything below) on your blog (first names if you please). If you look at the picture I previously attached, the angle of Maggie’s ears clearly show she is hearing at a frequency and pitch that could only be heard by canines and other animals.

It is obvious that it amplifies lower volume and higher pitch sounds heard by canines.

Sometimes, invention has the most unexpected consequences! I continue to tell friends and strangers about his wonderful event. We are sorry that it will come to a close. Finally, we would love to track down the London Pug. It has been a pleasure to be introduced to your artistic talent.

All the best, John

A Triumph in Transatlantic Telectroscopic Relations

Saturday was a triumph in international telectroscopic relations with steampunks of various stripes and colour gathering at both ends of the tunnel. Very good descriptions of events have been published by mlleviolet and andyravensable

Without the aid of pens & whiteboards (curiously absent) the persons concerned still managed to conduct an experiment and make a connection.

Watch the video carefully. At both ends of the tunnel there appears to be a man in matching flat hat, waistcoat and trousers:

How does Paul St Geoge manage to be at both ends of the tunnel at once?

Coming Home (via the Tunnel!)

Paul St George is coming home after his much feted trip to America. But did anyone out there actually see him on site at the Brooklyn end? If you have any photographs of the great man in the Big Apple please do share them with us. Here he is in London (thanks cowfish!):

I am still unclear BTW as to whether Paul travels via the Tunnel or takes the plane like the rest of us. One has to assume there is some rudimentary form of transport down there.

Just a few weeks ago I might have thought of Paul as Charles Bronson in The Great Escape, tap-tapping with his trowel and being tugged to and fro on a trolley hundreds of metres below the ground. But given the grand scale and fine workmanship of the Telectroscopes, I now see in my mind’s eye a motorised carriage – the kind of thing owners of the early Wild West railways used to live in while the navvies banged out the track in front of them.

Or does Paul travel more ‘Lenin-style’ in something steel plated, fortified with blacked out windows, chuntering along slowly beneath the Atlantic, plotting and co-ordinating his own curious revolution?

But I digress. On a more practical level, it must be assumed that the doorway to the side of the Telectroscope is where Paul will once again surface. My daughter and I tried to open said door the other day, if only to see to see what lay on the other side, but it was firmly sealed.

The pressure gauge upon the door did twitch a bit as we tugged, deviating slightly from its typical range of 2 to 4 bar. Which begs more questions: how is Paul managing the extraordinary fluctuations in pressure that must occur in his subterranean world?   And how is the light, being squeezed, travelling and bending its way across the Atlantic, still producing such fine images?

Journey to America

Paul St George writes:

Tim, I am going to the Brooklyn end of the tunnel tomorrow. Perhaps we can wave at each other? Would anyone like to meet me in Brooklyn? I would like to see people trying some more experimental ways of communicating through the Telectroscope. Perhaps this week?

And tomorrow the telectroscope...

I enjoyed my lunch hour down at the site of the London Telectroscope meeting a couple of fellow believers, who were alerted by my Twitter feed and also via the Facebook group to the possibility of encountering Paul St George.

The surfacing has not been the terrifying experience that the cartoon above suggests.

Rather we all had a very gentle and rewarding social experience.

Tomorrow the drilling will cease and the Telectroscopes will be dragged into place. I wish I could be there to see it.

Perhaps someone else out there will do me the favour of taking some photos or some footage?

A Trip To Paul's Workshop

It was with some trepidation that I set out for deepest darkest Millwall in search of Paul St George’s workshop. But amazement took the place of fear when I finally found him, sitting inside his Telectroscope! Or was that simply an image of him sitting at the other end of his Tunnel!?

The device itself is a lovely confection of brushed metal, shiny pipes, valves and stops and lenses. The drawings that we’ve seen previously are actually surprisingly accurate. I assumed Paul’s great grandfather had perhaps used a bit of artistic license but it turns out that what he’d imagined in his head is pretty much what Paul has built.

       

As for the Tunnel, everything is on course. Although Paul won’t commit to a precise date, he’s adamant that he will break through to the surface by the end of May.

So stay alert! If you spot any signs in or around the Tower Bridge area of seriously unofficial excavations, be sure to alert me here at the blog.

An article in 'The Times'

I suppose one should not always believe what one reads in the papers, but I was excited to see an article - with accompanying photograph - about Paul and his Telectroscope in the Times newspaper today:

"His 21st-century Telectroscope will allow people at one end in London to see those at the other, in New York. It opens later this month, just by Tower Bridge.

Jutting into the ground will be a 40ft-long (12m) Victorian-styled tubular optical instrument, 6ft in diameter. It will look something like a giant’s telescope. The device is so large that its maker had to take the other end to New York by ship. The twin machine will be sited near the Brooklyn Bridge.

For £1 a go, people will be able to wave down a massive viewing pipe into the earth and see others in New York waving back. Its aperture is so wide that two or three families can look down it at the same time."

There's some comfort here in the fact that this was not the April 1st edition... and as usual, Paul is very compelling when he describes the history behind his project. But I'm really no nearer understanding whether he has managed to dig a tunnel and build his devices or not.

An email and a drawing from Paul

Aha! Paul has already reacted to the blog. I received this email earlier today:

Hi Tim, We met yesterday. I left without paying for the coffees, sorry. I saw the blog you have started and I saw the pages from my sketch book!!!! Here is a better image. You only needed to ask:

I should tell you my great grandfather's name. It is a bit of a mouthful: Alexander Stanhope St George.

The image that I have attached is one of his drawings and shows a section view of the Telectroscope. I have been slowly going through all of his notebooks and boxes and piecing together his plans.

I can see that you do not completely believe me; nor do you completely reject the idea that I might be able to do this. There are many too many drawings and notes to bombard you with, but I hope this drawing dispels any doubt. Let me know if you want any further information.

Paul

There’s quite a lot here to digest here – the drawing, the name, the invitation to ask for more... How should I respond? What is the one piece of evidence that is going to drop me in the hole, convince me that Paul’s scheme is for real?

Do you believe...?

So here’s the April Fool bit: Paul actually reckons he’s going to build and deliver this whole thing – the tunnel, the Telectroscope, everything:

“I’ve made all these connections. Money couldn’t buy what I’ve managed to do. All the right people. Pretty soon I’ll be able to complete this tunnel and install the Telectroscope that my great grandfather invented and people are going to be able to see from London to New York.”

He says it very earnestly to me. So earnestly that I write it down. He makes me wish I could be so earnest and elevated about my own work, not stuck in my own little underground tunnel. Perhaps this project is a way for me to dig my way out, connect to something bigger and brighter...

So what do we think? Will he finish his tunnel by May? Will we get to see London from New York – and vice versa?

Do you believe in the Telectroscope?