Random Access Memories

There’s a road junction in St Budeaux that acts like an elongated roundabout. The effect of this is that a car heading in one direction can stop for you at the zebra crossing and then as you walk on thirty seconds later you can see the same car now seemingly heading the opposite way. On one side of the road there used to be an old style advertising billboard – every few months someone would come along and paste up a new advert to replace the existing one. A couple of years ago the billboard was taken down and replaced with a modern equivalent – electronic this time. When it was first installed it was all black, presumably awaiting the first electronic ad to be launched on to the screen. Two years later it is still black. It’s become its own black hole. Capitalism has sucked so much out of the world that there’s nothing left to consume or no one left who can afford to consume it. (Either that or it’s a very clever art installation). When I traverse this neighbourhood I always walk o...

Knicks in five Knicks in five, it’s like a secret password being spread across the streets of New York.   What it refers to is the winners of a basketball league. Winners of a playoff series that has gripped a certain segment of US society. It’s 7am in the UK. Sunday morning. It’s already been light for a couple of hours here as we approach giddily towards the summer solstice. But in New York it’s 2am. Night time. The street’s spilling over with celebrating home fans. Knicks in five There’s lights and noise. Modified chaos. Somewhere a bus is set on fire. Police and first responders arrive shortly afterwards. A blur of sirens. Streets are blocked off. Crowd control. People peer through the window of an all night pizza parlour. But there’s no longer access to the entrance. Scenes like these, a barely narrated rolling news, used to be the province of disasters. Terrorist attacks or fatal storms. Channels like CNN broadcasting 24/7. Filling up hour after hour with background...

Swans live very narrow, prescribed lives. One day for a swan is pretty much like any other. They inhabit a small area of territory that might be considered their home turf and they rarely go beyond it. At night, swans will sleep, much like you and I. They will usually sleep on the water as they don’t really have any predators on water that pose a threat to them. On land they might be prey to foxes or the like, although even on land there are few creatures that could take on a fully grown adult swan. During the day Swans spend a lot of time foraging for food. Swans are vegetarians. Most of what they eat isn’t that nutrient rich, so they need to eat a lot of it. The rest of the time is often spent in grooming. So the daily life of a swan sees them move between a few different locations within their territory, looking for food and keeping their feathers in shape. They aren’t exactly creatures of habit in one sense – they don’t sleep in the same spot every night, you won’t find them ...