The preparation for the Radical EC1 Walk continues with the usual diversions and tangents and books being brought together without obvious connections. I’ve been reading Communitas by Percival and Paul Goodman, a lot of Christopher Alexander and the first chapter of the Grundrisse. I suspect I understand about 10 percent of what Alexander and MarxContinue reading “Marxism and A Pattern Language”
Category Archives: Cities
Neo-Liberalism & the Destruction of Paris
Paris has a terrible system for buying metro tickets. I’m ahead of myself having managed to catch the early morning train from Orleans to Paris Austerlitz. But here my plan to make further progress is tripped up by a queue of people waiting to use the single machine at the metro station. It takes meContinue reading “Neo-Liberalism & the Destruction of Paris”
Rue Pocquet de Livonnieres
On the corner of the Rue Pocquet de Livonnieres and the Place de Pilori there is a patisserie which bakes fine bread, good cakes and serves decent coffee. There are metal orange tables and chairs outside and it’s a good spot to have breakfast and watch Angers come to life each morning. I buy aContinue reading “Rue Pocquet de Livonnieres”
Get off the bus
And so the spell is broken. Out into the early morning light of Offenbach. The streets are empty of people and has the quietness and silence where everyone is still asleep. A woman is sitting at a table outside one of the restaurants in the market square smoking a cigarette. She looks lost in thoughts,Continue reading “Get off the bus”
The new ruins crush the soul of the possibilities of earlier revolutions
There is a great market in Offenbach-am-Main three times a week, including Saturday morning. It’s a good place to practice speaking English. The repetition of buying fruit and vegetables and bread and cheese and fish and meat helps to remember the words. One of the stalls sells nothing but potatoes. I explained to the womanContinue reading “The new ruins crush the soul of the possibilities of earlier revolutions”
Coming into Frankfurt-am-Main
There’s a mirage effect in the Channel. A ship appears to be hovering above the sea. It would make a good photograph. But I must hurry as I have a train to catch, and then a plane. I glance at the ship one more time and hasten to the railway station. The mean spirited andContinue reading “Coming into Frankfurt-am-Main”
Ceciliengärten
I phoned my mum from Berlin (or Ber-leene as she says it). I spoke in a formal voice.‘Guten abend’‘Guten abend’ she replied. There was a pause.‘Wie geht es dir?‘Ja gut’.‘Ich bin in Berlin’.‘Ja….’‘It’s me….I’m in Berlin…’We laughed so much. People might not realise that there’s still an older Germany in existence. An older Germany thatContinue reading “Ceciliengärten”
A Short Ride on the U-Bahn
The apartment is just off the Kurfürstendamm, on the top floor of a building constructed around 1910. It is light and airy and quiet. It has a central location but there is no sound of motorism. The building is created around a courtyard which has large mature trees and a glorious spread of flowers andContinue reading “A Short Ride on the U-Bahn”
The revolution is magnificent; Everything else is nonsense
Rosa Luxemburg It’s possible that there will be a map of Berlin in the local branch of WH Smith. That’s what I really want. A large, fold-out, paper map of Berlin. Something that shows the edges of the city, and then the places beyond the edges of the city. The villages and forests and lakes.Continue reading “The revolution is magnificent; Everything else is nonsense”
A Map of London Before 1987
Sometimes one buys a book instinctively. There will be one sentence, a headline, a particular type face, an image. Perhaps just the title of the book itself. Or maybe it’s the particular quality of the book. Such was the purchase of: 50 YEARS OR RECUPERATION of the Situationist Internationalby McKenzie Wark When the book wasContinue reading “A Map of London Before 1987”
Cornucopia City 