“These proposal calls are too much work. But now it's done and ready for drop-off at FedEx on Sargent Avenue. It was early afternoon on October 11, 2013 so I had plenty of time before the seven o’clock deadline. Normally, such a trip would involve a quick drive through the no-man’s land of near-airport industrial complexes but I had time and I needed to unwind. So I’ll walk there. Why not? Distance-wise I guessed it would be well within my daily walking quota. Geographically, it would take me through territory not meant for mere pedestrians, unprotected by the thousands of pounds of steel armour we usually wear to such places. I sniffed a challenge but smelled a larger conquest: the Fedex depot was not that far from Winnipeg International Airport. Was it conceivable that one could walk to the airport? Had not Will Self walked from Kennedy Airport to Manhattan? I had to try.
Thus began my dérive. For the uninitiated, a dérive is one of the key practices related to the Situationist movement. To be brief, a dérive involves an un-mapped, un-planned walk, driven as much by sensory attractions and encounters of all types (people, sounds, vistas, etc.) as it is by physical streets and paths. Situationists refer to it as a psychogeographic experience.”
