Shortcuts 15.11.
10
Urban exploration
On top of the world with the recreational trespassers
A A
small group is perilously
perched atop one of New
York’s iconic bridges. It’s
late at night and they have no
support gear – just a camera. But
these are not photographers or
adrenaline junkies. Instead they
call themselves recreational
trespassers – because they climb,
crawl and creep along bridges,
tunnels and abandoned buildings.
“A city is prettiest to see from
the air. You’re insanely high – you
have no idea how big it is until
you’re up there,” says adventurer
Steve Duncan, 32, who began
exploring New York when he
moved there in 1996.
The non-professional climb-
ers mainly use service ladders to
scale bridges, but still risk arrest
– or even death. “It’s not some-
thing to be cavalier about,” says
Moses Gates, 34. “It is illegal
and something you’ll get in
trouble for if you get caught.” In
1998, for example, 27-year-old
Robert Landeta died after falling
from the Brooklyn Bridge,
while police arrested three men
on the Williamsburg Bridge
in 2003.
Duncan is currently based in
Los Angeles studying for a PhD
in urban history while Gates, an
urban planner, lives in Brooklyn,
2 The Guardian
top of
View from the
tta n Br id ge
Manha
Celebrity
The latest wedding accessory – a Bollywood star
I
t is hard to imagine a more
celebrity-obsessed nation
than Britain. Yet in Mumbai
– home of Bollywood, where
society weddings can cost more
than £500,000 – there is a new
must-have accessory: the celebrity
wedding guest.
Couples can no longer expect
their nuptials to grace the pages
of celebrity magazine such as
Stardust, unless a household
name is in their wedding party.
And as not everyone can be best
mates with Shahrukh Khan,
pictured, (India’s answer to Tom
Cruise), celebs are now charging
to pretend to be genuine guests.
With sprawling family groups the
norm, it is easy to pass off the star
as a distant cousin.
“People pay celebrities to
Climbing the Queensboro
Bridge in New York
but both travel the world to meet
other nocturnal explorers – in
sewers, caves and on top of
structures. “It keeps on getting
bigger and it has a different
character in different places,”
says Duncan, who has explored
a labyrinth of Victorian-era “lost
rivers” beneath London, a tunnel
under Moscow’s Red Square and
the Paris catacombs.
mingle and shake hands with the bride and
with the bride and groom. In the case of
groom,” confirms high-profile actresses,
society wedding it goes up to £70,000.”
planner Gurleen For those who go
Puri. And they pay further, it costs even
well. An event organ- more, with male actors
iser told the charging top whack to don the
Hindustan “pagdi” turban – traditionally worn
Times, “The only by immediate relatives.
ordinary But the trend is not without
package, problems. Innayat Khubchandani,
which costs who organises weddings for
around well-to-do Indians in Bali, warns:
£7,000 for “If you have these stars around,
actresses you’re too busy looking after
like Minis- them and their security, and not
sha Lamba looking after your guests.”
[think Nicole And what self-respecting bride
Ritchie], is wants another diva present on
inclusive of their wedding day?
getting pictures Flora Stubbs
photographs steve duncan cover vy/splash news
“People are in love with these
cities. That’s what drives you to
risk your life or spend a night in
a cold, damp tunnel,” he adds.
It’s not hard to understand the
thrill – when police arrested
Duncan and Gates in Paris in
2006, for climbing Notre Dame
cathedral and ringing the bells
on the roof, “they understood
why [we did it],” he claims.
Baking
Using my loaf,
not a machine
I
can’t remember the last
time I bought a loaf, because
I always make my own –
with a bread machine, that is.
But with Waitrose, the foodies’
favourite supermarket, opening
a new cookery school, it seemed
the perfect time to learn how
to bake a decent loaf using only
my own fair hands and a bit of
elbow grease.
The school opened its
doors last Monday, and runs
until Christmas, covering
everything from the art of
sauce-making to mastering
Thai food and hosting
Michelin star dinner parties.
Above the Finchley Road
store in London I meet James
New York, as seen from
Park Avenue Bridge
The disparate group records
their exploits on blogs such
as Duncan’s undercity.org and
Gates’ allcitynewyork.com
and show no signs of stopping.
Gates says, “98% of places are
legal, but I want to see 100%,”
before heading off to the airport
to fly to Egypt, where he plans
to climb the pyramids.
Joe Jackson
Campbell, a pastry chef who
previously worked at London’s
Mandarin Oriental hotel. Our
group of eight aspiring bakers
are quickly paired up and put
to work, mixing, kneading and
shaping – all of which my partner,
Trisha Hadley, is frustratingly
good at. Along the way we learn
tricks of the trade – such as how
to chop herbs safely (by making
Communications
A heartfelt
message
ccording to a self-serving
Royal Mail survey those
between 18-24 feel like
Johnny-No-Mates if they don’t
get at least 42 birthday messages,
and even the over-25s need at
least 21. Sadly, all too often the
poor loves are disappointed: not
only are people not sending
enough cards, but those that do
arrive have no personal messages.
Just imagine! A birthday card
that only says Happy Birthday.
Here are some suggestions for
life events that deserve to be
celebrated more fully . . .
• “Happy birthday to that
special person I know only
through Facebook.”
• “Congratulations. You are the
100,000th person to lose their
job this week.”
• “So pleased to hear you’ve
got into university. Here’s £10
for you to spend. I hope you
find the other £8,990.”
• “I can’t thank you enough for
making me a multi-millionaire
by wasting your money on
premium rate phone lines” –
Simon Cowell to everyone who
watches X-Factor.
• “To the best daddy ever” –
Nick Clegg to David Cameron
John Crace
a claw with one hand and, with
your other, balancing the knife
alongside your knuckles,
cutting in a rocking motion),
scatter flour efficiently (like
skimming a stone into the sea),
and what temperature tepid
actually is (20–25°C).
My rolls come out a bit
crispier than I had hoped, but
the focaccia and crostini are
authentic, if a little rough
around the edges. Thankfully,
I learn that artisan and rustic are
all the rage right now.
At the end of the day,
Campbell shares his top
bread-making tip: “Love
your dough.” Which of
course you can’t possibly
do when a machine gets
between it and you.
Sarah Phillips
waitrose.com/inspiration/cookery-
school/index.aspx
Pass notes
No 2,880
Spartacus
Age: Over 2,100 and still going strong.
Appearance: Revolting.
This is ancient history, isn’t it? He was
a rebel leader who died on a cross,
just like that bloke in the Bible. The
names’s Jesus, you moron.
Nice to meet you. If I remember right,
Spartacus was a Roman gladiator who
turned on his masters. It wasn’t just him
the Romans crucified, but thousands
of his mates. They could have escaped
death by turning him in, but instead
they all declared: “I am Spartacus!”
It’s the kind of thing that makes you
proud to be human. You watch too
many movies. That’s Stanley Kubrick’s
version of history.
So Spartacus didn’t look like Kirk
Douglas (above)? What really happened?
Spartacus did exist, and he did lead a
slave revolt in the first century BC. But
he died in battle, and though 6,000 of
his comrades were crucified, it wasn’t
because they were showing solidarity.
The Romans were just big on law
and order.
But why are we talking about him
now? Spartacus lives! And he’s taken
over Twitter!
That internet thing where people
with nothing to say attempt to stretch
it to 140 characters? That’s the one.
#iamspartacus – ie “I am Spartacus” –
is a hot British hashtag.
That’s amazing! What’s a hashtag?’
It’s what you put at the end of a
tweet to show what it’s about. Like
this: #passnotes.
Or this? #loadofcobblers Precisely.
#iamspartacus is a way of sticking
up for Paul Chambers, a Twitter user
who’s been fined for making a joke
about blowing up an airport. Some
brave souls have been repeating his
tweet, though a judge ruled it
“obviously” menacing.
If only we had room to reprint it here.
We do! “Crap! Robin Hood airport is
closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to
get your shit together otherwise I’m
blowing the airport sky high!”
That was an ironic “if only”. Won’t
the cops be coming after us now?
You’re forgetting our hashtag.
#weareanonymous
Do say: “They can’t fine everyone.”
Don’t say: “He’s Spartacus.”
The Guardian 3