Pyestock was changing. Slowly, irreversibly and terminally it was changing. More windows were being smashed,
more doors were ripped open, more graffiti was appearing and saddest of all were the smashed bulbs and dials of the Plant House
control room. (We were going to have our lunch in there again but found the room vandalised, covered in glass and full of flies; it was all
a disgusting, saddening mess). Of a more worrying nature was the appearance of the new fence, a hastily but firmly erected wire mesh fence
of multiple panels. It didn’t stop anyone getting in but it slowed us down and made some buildings more difficult to get to. The fence
itself wasn’t a worry but its appearance definitely was: why had this suddenly appeared?
The day was hazy but bright, the air becoming quickly hot and humid. The trees were bursting into leaf, undergrowth was reappearing
and the Buddleia bushes which grew through the cracked concrete of Pyestock were beginning to flower. It wasn’t a perfect
day, but it was a good day.
So far, everything had gone to plan with Alex (a friend who was getting his first taste of urban exploration), Major Tom
and I arriving at Fleet Pond at the prearranged time to find Marlon and fellow explorer Strangely Brown both
waiting. Pleasantries and introductions over we quickly navigated the woods, avoided the over-chatty dog walkers (who weirdly questioned Marlon as
to where the birds had all gone as their ferocious dogs jumped all over us in shows of aggressive friendliness) and then quietly slipped into Pyestock.
It was unusually quiet: Sigma was locked up, QinetiQ was silent and the only noise was the hum of the CEBG
transformer park. We observed the new fence wryly; it held us up and caused us to alter our usual route into the site but soon we were
on the gravel by the pipe array of the Air House. The full scale of this corner of Pyestock started to register on
Strangely Brown and Alex: "Wow."
