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April 06, 2004
Hammersmith & City Line
[ new addition to thoughtonfilm.com (sorry, but blog links are the only way to get into Google these days!) ]
On the way to Brick Lane Beigel Bake (a pilgrimage followed without exception on every visit to London), in an almost-empty tube carriage on the way to Whitechapel, I feel something tapping my leg; small, murmuring waves of urban paranoia start to well up...worse, it continues, soon there's going to be no way to keep up the famous english reserve, even in the concentrated, bulletproof form to which the London Underground has distilled it (blank faces, resolute ignorance of other human beings...you know the routine). The will to ignore has to crack at some undefined point on the continuum of sensation...at some point, I'll have to notice.
I'm not going to get away from it, the guy opposite me is actually kicking my shin repeatedly, apparently deliberately - not hard mind you, just a tap as if to get my attention. When I finally muster up the courage to look up and face whatever crazy drunk homicidal religious nut might be wanting to steal my money and/or soul, I see that he's gesturing firstly towards the middle of the carriage, where these two are sitting, and secondly towards my camera - looking over, I can see what he's trying to say - an opportunity not to be missed.
He seemed well pleased, and did that angle with the hat especially for the photo; she had an 'oh, honestly!' attitude about his posing that comes across beautifully here (I'm still not sure whether they were actually together - there seems to be a certain 'I'm not with him' vibe going on!). I managed to get a couple of shots before the train stopped, and as the door-beeps blared urgently he scrambled about for a piece of paper to write down his address; all he managed to write, and thrust into my hand as I squeezed through the door, was 'Stanley', and an address with no postcode, scribbled on the back of a receipt.
Months later when I'd finally got round to printing it, deciphering the spidery handwriting, I chose one of the two london addresses with the same name, as it turned out the right one.
Posted by robin at April 6, 2004 12:35 PM