DannyB

Boulevard Leon Gambetta

The ship was delayed due to a storm in the channel the previous day. A storm at sea, a storm in Putin’s head. Everything is in collision, roaring, squawking, screeching, screaming. A global domination by despots, dictators, false democracies, hysterical right wing newspapers, shock-mouth personas, foul intoxications of hate, lies and hypocrisies. Ordinary everyday workingContinue reading “Boulevard Leon Gambetta”

Pimlico, revisited

I walked through Pimlico several times earlier this year. Before more war had started. There was the brink of a new war then in those nervous days in January and early February. Threats and violations. No one was sure that it would happen. When it did, I remember thinking, ‘so this is how it starts’.Continue reading “Pimlico, revisited”

We Refused to Moor the Ferries

‘We refused to moor the ferries. They can’t make us’. The man telling me this was fishing on the beach. A big guy wrapped up for all sorts of weather. Sun, snow, wind, calm, lashing rain. He had the hood of his jacket pulled over his woollen hat just in case.‘They should have put aContinue reading “We Refused to Moor the Ferries”

Medieval Graffiti & the Conquest of Bread

One of the many books I’m working on (will they ever be completed?) has a working title of Commuting and the Art of Revolution. Chapter five has the working title of Medieval Graffiti and the Conquest of Bread. The structure of the book is the commuting journey I did for several years and the stationsContinue reading “Medieval Graffiti & the Conquest of Bread”

A Map of Dover, 20 March 2022

The Spirit of Britain in Dover Western Docks (next to Admiralty Pier). The sacked workers have all left. Essentially blackmailed by their employer, DP World. ‘If you don’t do as we say, you won’t even get your redundancy money’. There are people on the three ferries as at least two have been firing up theirContinue reading “A Map of Dover, 20 March 2022”

Tyger, Tyger

‘It’s not that they’ve made any losses, it’s just that they haven’t made big enough profits’. The Albanian taxi driver tells me. He is half in and half out of his car outside Dover Priory station. Another driver stands by the car in the sun. We’re talking about the news that P&O Ferries has justContinue reading “Tyger, Tyger”

Notes for a War Diary

The word ‘agate’ had to be looked up because I realised I only had a vague notion of what ‘agate’ might be. It seemed a small, trifling thing, referenced in Franz Hessel’s lovely book Walking in Berlin. As he describes, ‘In the evening of that overfilled day, I was welcomed into the home of anContinue reading “Notes for a War Diary”

War or No War?

It was that rather lovely period between the end of the afternoon and the beginning of the evening. This is particularly enjoyable when one has finished work for the day and the light in the sky is rapidly changing. There is a tension between the disappearing sunlight and the emerging neon light. The are complementaryContinue reading “War or No War?”

War Primer

A woman is sitting on a bench by the shore. She is wearing a black coat and a green scarf. She holds a phone in her hand and dials a number. She holds the phone to her head and then she moves again to dial a number. She does this over and over again butContinue reading “War Primer”

A Sea Crossing in Times of War

The air is heavy with war. In Ukraine the air is heavy with bombs, rockets, shells, machine gun fire. An account from someone who said her son vomited as he tried to eat some food. Vomited with fear. Pictures of people with their faces full of fear. The first reports of casualties. The British PrimeContinue reading “A Sea Crossing in Times of War”