Broken city. Shattered buildings, where they had climbed out of the ground, gnawing away at the dense certainties that held them down. I saw so much rubble, so much death – vivid and prowling through the streets, faces carved from chalk, flesh harder and so much more ragged than the bones that support it. IContinue reading “Time regained”
Category Archives: London
Breaking out
Every so often there are low, rumbling thuds outside, muttering like thunder. I’m keeping away from the windows. I thought about taking the tube, but when the web was still up it said that no lines were running. There are all those urban legends about stations built through the old plague pits. So many tunnelsContinue reading “Breaking out”
Unreal city
For some reason I can’t get the ‘unreal city’ sequence at the end of the first section of ‘The Wasteland’ out of my head. Must be the heat. The humidity clings. I’m beginning to feel trapped. ‘That corpse you planted last year in your garden, Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?’Continue reading “Unreal city”
Silent builders
I can see the street outside from my window, looking down into the dead building opposite. Funny that I hadn’t noticed all the building works before yesterday. The builders don’t seem to be very active. Some of them are climbing around in the cellar, while the rest seem to be just standing around. Apparently theContinue reading “Silent builders”
Dead cities
Reading about a disturbance at Brookwood on the news. Then, I went to get lunch. The building over the road has been completely gutted, ready for development. Dead buildings rise again very quickly; in a couple of months it’ll be something completely new. People are more difficult to bring back. But then again, London isContinue reading “Dead cities”
Dreams of sirens
I saw two or three unmarked police cars hurtling through the city last night, then again this morning – each the same shade of dense blue, temporary police lights clamped to the roof. They move with all the unreadable determination of a dream, forcing its way into the traffic of the mind and then asContinue reading “Dreams of sirens”
Magic hour
I’ve got myself a new phone, and the new phone has a new camera in it, so I’ve been riding round London taking lots of photos and putting them up on Flickr. I’ve realised that I’m fascinated by light. I’m out and about first thing in the morning, early evening; the magic hour, when sunlightContinue reading “Magic hour”