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Mar 2, 2014 · 2 minute readdatesdanger of ex-patgentrification abounds
It has begun. Slowly, insidiously, and completely unexpectedly. And I was betrayed by Kinder Eggs, of all things. I have a pack sitting by my table which are waiting to be picked up by a friend. As I’ve had them since Christmas, I wanted to make sure that they were still good, so I flipped the box over and looked at the expiry date:
01/09/2014
For a moment, I thought ‘oh no, they’re out of date’. For a moment. One second later, my brain reasserted itself and I realised it was saying September, not January. A small slip, but a worrying one. I think I over-compensated and refused to give out any temperatures in Fahrenheit for the rest of the day. And had three cups of tea. You can’t be too careful.
I accidentally walked 7.5 miles yesterday. It was sunny! And I hadn’t been about Durham for ages! The blisters I have on my big toe today were totally worth it! Well, maybe not that last one. I did a loop from my house down to Whole Foods and 9th Street and came back home via Trinity, Geer, and Gilbert. You can argue against the evils of gentrification until the cows go home and make tea for two (no beef, please), but it’s amazing how active Geer & Rigsbee is these days, not just with the bars and restaurants there, but the park just behind Cocoa Cinnamon, which almost always has children playing football at the weekend (and yes, I’m talking about real football here, so bonus points allocated), people milling about enjoying the sun, and the feeling that the pedestrian is safe to walk wherever (despite it actually being a road…I guess that could potentially be a problem!).
And then on the way back, I fell in love with another building. I can’t believe I’d never seen it before, but down on Gilbert is the former Hosiery Mills Dye House. From the outside, it looks amazing, a 1920s warehouse with great fronts and features. Once you look at the OpenDurham link, though, the inside is even better - look at the wooden trusses! LOOK AT THEM! OpenDurham says that the Durham Food Bank is currently situated there, but it looked empty yesterday, with a ‘for lease’ sign out front, and the Durham Food Bank website says that they’re moving. If anybody fancies a renovation on the lines of the Haw River Ballroom but in East Durham, they should come this way.
