Page 23 - RYAN'S GIG GUIDE MAY 2014

remember or believe the basis upon which the
suggestion had been made.
I followed Gimpo back onto the M25 and just
one stop further on we turned off onto the A3.
On the left is Ockham woods and there’s a car
park with free parking. The early morning dog -
gers looked on as Gimpo explained at length
and in detail about his previous visits with Bill
and Jimmy. I listened with interest as the story
poured out and I transferred my stuff to
Gimpo’s car. I didn’t have to time to think
about the rest.
In a few minutes Gimpo was back on the M25
and the Spin continued. This was his M25 spin,
he was the artist here, and no one was going to
stop him. We headed North while Gimpo end -
lessly flipped from one radio station to the
next, attempting to find anything worth lis-
tening to, whilst broadcasting his irritation at
the fact the cd player was broken and he had
no “modern music” to listen to.
Gimpo drove at a steady 56 miles an hour. “The
price of bloody fuel these days Mark, it’s a rip
off,” he said. "It’s not a race.” He turned off at
J23, South Mimms. He wanted to get some
fruit juice and have a driving break. He parked
up and we both spotted four “Beat The Street”
double decker tour buses parked up. “That’ll be
Elton John or some other shit I bet,” he said.
“Who do these people think they are?”
Gimpo showed me how he had stuck his signs
to the roof of the car with gaffer tape. Only
the truck drivers or bus passengers would see.
We got back in the car and Gimpo set to work
labelling and loading the next tape to go in the
video camera. I got the full account of Spin
Island, the only island on the M25. Gimpo
wants to plant an Argentinian flag on it. He
says he’d like to buy it and give it to the own-
ers of Stott Hall Farm, between J22 and J23 on
the M62. The story goes they refused to sell up
and move house when they built the M62
Motorway over the Pennines so by rights, they
should have Spin Island too. Gimpo says
there’s a hot spring on Spin Island. That’s why
they had to split the motorway to go around
it.
Onwards through a couple of tunnels then it
was up over the Queen Elizabeth Bridge.
Traditionally the Spin starts there at midday on
the Saturday, top dead centre. Descending on
the other side Gimpo only uses toll booth num-
ber 23. Gimpo paid the toll and as the barrier
went up it was almost exactly 9am.
Next stop was Clacket Lane Services. “Doggers
Delight!” Gimpo declared. “They put a rat trap
in the hedge just there but the rat dug a hole
underneath it.” More fruit juice and a quick
driving break before moving on to Cobham and
the lap was completed. Gimpo still couldn’t find
anything to listen to on the radio. He switched
it off in despair. “Where’s Tim?” he shouted,
“He always has the music, we need Tim here to
put the music on.”
Gimpo explained he wanted to do the last lap
by himself. A committed artist. I collected my
car and followed Gimpo back onto the M25.
Some things just can’t be explained. Gimpo is
making the world’s longest road movie. He
wants to know where the M25 goes. His plan is
to drive round the M25 every year on the clos-
est Saturday night/Sundaymorning to 21 March
each year for 25 years. Gimpo has 7 years left to
completion.
I looked across at the other drivers as they
passed by on their way to nowhere, circling the
nation’s capital. Another ruin of a world city.
Gimpo was ahead at a steady 56mph, unmoved
in his commitment to the work. Who would
know who was in the car in front? An artist
without a name or a country. An artist who has
nothing in common with you. An artist filming
the world’s longest road movie in an attempt to
find out where the M25 goes. An artist with no
gods and no masters. The M25, the London
Orbital Motorway, 117 miles of open road where
Gimpo is the artist. One man, just getting into
it for himself.