March 1st - get lost in space with the lrm

Dear friends, fellow loiterers and miscellaneous ne’er-do-wells

I hope this finds you where you want to be. Apologies for my tardiness in telling you about March’s wander, February is a trickster of a month and I have been distracted hunting for the first signs of Spring. The LRM will of course be convening to celebrate First Sunday, This Sunday March 1st and it would be splendid if you could join us.

The theme of the walk will be space; we’ll be exploring the gaps between solididity and the absence that lurks at the heart of the city. This feels particularly apt now as the false nirvana created by capitalism crumbles and shop windows begin increasingly to reflect and reveal nowt but a hollow shell.

The LRM celebrate the beauty in the mundane and derelict and reclaim the places regeneration forgot (or chose to ignore). We’ll be looking at nothing and thus discovering everything….

Space is somewhere to play and build the city of our dreams. Absence can make the heart scream louder and the imagination soar. Don’t be scared of the void; look closer, jump in. When we loose something we didn’t realise was precious the space can be bigger than the thing that was there. Opportunity is everywhere; an abundance of flora and fauna thrive where shoppers fear to tread and the biodiversity of emptiness is breathtaking. Some may see weeds the LRM find treasure….

We’ll be meeting 1pm outside Ilva (Great Ancoats Street, opposite the oxymoronic retail ‘park’) If you haven’t been to Ilva recently you’re in for a treat – it’s a giant empty ghost shop guarded by a lone fake plastic tree. Alongside are seats and a large permanently vacant car park which looks perfect for loitering in (although I suspect we won’t be staying still for long) We’ll probably meander along Piccadilly basin to commune with its winged residents and decipher how paradise got its name

There are bound to be some pleasing echoes and secret performance spaces so please bring any small musical instruments you may have – kazoos, tambourines, flutes, that kind of thing. I have a vision of an impromptu LRM orchestra and a noise making device may be useful if you stumble upon a vortex, black hole or rip in the space time continuum. Who knows what’s lurking at the periphery….

As usual we’ll finish with our favourite beverages and a bit of a natter. If you need any more information (although the route is of course unwritten and our intentions goodhearted but sketchy) or if don’t fancy hanging around a car park on your own waiting to see what happens and want to meet en route please call the LRM hotline 07974929589

In other news we have a splendid line-up of bands, films and sundry wonderful entertainment lined up for our Subverting Surveillance night. What we lack thus far are a date and venue; if you have any suggestions please do holler. We need somewhere accessible, cheap and with good beer please. Plans are also afoot for a May Bank holiday extravaganza full of shenanigans including Manchester’s first urban fox hunt (with, naturally, unnatural non-foxes. No animals will be harmed) More details coming soon….

Thanks, as ever, to all who contribute, contradict and inspire the LRM

Love and daffodils

Morag