One of four bands
Ground with nobody to ask
No gate, no hours, nobody whose day you interrupt by being there. The commonest kind of half public ground in this city and the kind visitors trust least, because nothing tells them it is allowed.
The two we have written up
- Ground with nobody to askA Greenway Under a Viaduct | DoorstoneA strip of public paving that goes under something enormous, and is quieter for it. No gate, no hours, and almost nobody there at two in the afternoon.
- Ground with nobody to askA Quadrangle You Can Walk Through | DoorstoneThe commonest piece of half public ground in this city, and the one visitors stand at the edge of and then go around.
Where this band sits
- Ground with nobody to askNo gate, no hours, nobody whose day you interrupt by being there. The commonest kind of half public ground in this city and the kind visitors trust least, because nothing tells them it is allowed.
- Ground that keeps hoursOpen, and open on somebody else's clock. The hours are the whole of the arrangement, and they are the thing most often out of date on the internet and correct on the gate.
- Ground that opens if you askA name in a book, a telephone call the week before, a person who says yes. Asking is not a formality here: it is the entire difference between welcome and trespass.
- Ground where the edge is all of itThe fence, the lane, the last public foot before the working part starts. Reading the edge as a refusal is a mistake; the edge is often the best seat in the place.