Bizarre.
Inspired. Potentially one of the most surreal cycling
websites you'll come across.
There's
nothing like a personal vendetta to spark the creative
juices. In 2000, faced with a tube strike, the 'Fencemaster'
decided to start cycling to work, chaining his bicycle
to a railing in a side street near his office. The railing
was a simple little affair, beside a non-descript back
door, and only about 6 feet long. And then a sign appeared
on the railing. Predictably bikes were not allowed to
be chained there, by order of the owners - the dark
and mysterious Howard de Walden Estate.
Writing
to the owners to ask why one bicycle on an alleyway
railing would cause such offence proved fruitless and
so, with a remarkable leap of logic, the Fencemaster
decided that 'other' things could be chained to the
railing. After all, the sign only explicitly dealt with
bikes...
The
crusade then took on a life of its own with people contributing
their own items, ranging from cuddly toys, up to an
ironing board and iron.
The
site itself is written with no little vitriol and humour,
with history lessons on Howard de Walden, the Albert
Memorial in a snow dome (yes really!), and obligatory
pictures of the multifarious railing adornments.
It's
been all quiet fenceside since 2002, but there is such
an amount of reading on the site that you'll end up
hoping someone does the same thing to your bike parking
spot... |
