Random follow #61 - @skirtauckland

Tweeters come and tweeters go.  Some twitter accounts are here for a while and other accounts are short bursts that light up the twitter sky and then disappear or morph into other things.

@SkirtAuckland is a project account that is tweeted by @marcuslush.  There was no fanfare, fancy launch parties or much of ado made about the launching of this twitter account.  I found it simply by seeing a tweet that read something like "starting a new twitter account. I follow back".

So what is @skirtauckland?  It is the gem of an idea from Marcus to walk around Auckland.  Not walk around Auckland as in go to the usual touristy locations and see the 'usual stuff'.  Rather it is a daily assignment to literally walk AROUND the outside of Auckland.  Auckland is by no means a small city.  It has the largest land area of any city in the world.

And so our intrepid explorer is walking.  He is walking and tweeting a lot of his adventures, findings, discoveries and mentioning the people he has met.  There are so many real and fabulous people with depth and value in their stories.  And those people live closer to you than you think.  It is easy to immortalise or make heroes of someone on the television.  And yet some of the most endearing, heart warming, heart breaking and fulfilling stories are held by the people who live right next door to you.

The aim of this project is not to purposely meet those people but those people I am sure cross paths with Marcus as he travels.  So far I have seen tweets about bus rides, dairies, school gala's, bible studies, beaches and motorists.

So what are the tweets like?  To be honest they are random, genuine, often photos and always have worth to them in one way or another.  Here are a few examples - 

"Day eleven and I have finally seen a kid up a tree!"

"Unbelievably good cooking smells in this street!"

"Could not eat all the grapes.. They are at the Cyril cres bus stop if you want them."

One of the best parts of this account?  Definitely the 'Dairy of the day".  Check this out - 

"And get this at the PoP Inn! 1.20$ for a kiddie cone! Unheard of! Cheapest in AK .. And an A in pest control + B in food hygiene OUTSTANDING"

What I love about this twitter account is its genuineness.  And it proves, yet again, that there are adventures to be had.  not in far away places but right here.  At our own backdoor and within our very own neighbourhoods. I really hope that by following @SkirtAuckland you too will be challenged to get there, the outside world, go exploring, learn some stuff, meet some people and ultimately be a better person for it.

I do not expect this account to last long.  Rather I think of it as being like a meteorite.  It will flash through the sky creating a new brightness and bringing the sky to life.  There are some people who will see this light and will remember it forever.  Those will be the people who go looking for it.  Who search for it.  Those who choose to take the time and engage with such a project.

I sincerely hope that you choose to be one of those people.

@SkirtAuckland I salute you.