Ports – Commodity Fetishism

Amsterdam, International

There are maps, plans, diagrams, lists of articles and books, buildings to photograph, streets to explore, biographies to read and historical timelines. And yet sometimes the occasion is just to drift, pulled by the hidden psychic energy of what lies beneath the city streets. Into Amsterdam East. It feels more anarchic than the allegedly liberatedContinue reading “Amsterdam, International”

Notes on Hamburg and its Housing

One of the pleasures of arriving at a port-city is the first impression, the immediate surfaces, the familiar-strangeness. The roll of the train into the station; cinematic movement, office blocks, bridges, viaducts the electrical infrastructure of the inter-city and suburban railways, glimpses of an earlier time, when capital took different forms, red brick buildings withContinue reading “Notes on Hamburg and its Housing”

Walking to France

The alarm is set but I wake up an hour before it rings. This gives more time for breakfast, double-checking that passport, tickets, euros, notebooks, pens, headphones, cameras are all in place. I might as well leave early rather than idle around at home. It will be interesting to see the port wake up; notContinue reading “Walking to France”

Waitresses of the world, unite

‘The plan never works out’, my friend the dust cart driver said, and laughed, knowingly. His plan is to return home to Africa and farm maize. But for now, he’s still driving the dust cart as he calls it. ‘But it’s no longer just a truck’, he continues, ‘it’s an office’. And describes the useContinue reading “Waitresses of the world, unite”

The Situationist City

London can be rather fabulous on a Wednesday lunchtime, especially when toil is abandoned for a couple of weeks. I take the Crossrail to Liverpool Street and walk through the station. Down to London Wall and past the mysterious All Hallows church. There’s a cut through at Throgmorton Street and then Copthall Avenue. Uncorked hasContinue reading “The Situationist City”

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”

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”

Sea Port Dreaming

The day was like a dream. The air, the atmosphere, the ambiance had the quality of a dream. As if one was within the world and simultaneously outside it. Words were needed to describe this dream but dreams and words and words and dreams are different things. They operate in different ways and exist inContinue reading “Sea Port Dreaming”

Global Supply Chains

We should take liberties with Raymond Williams book Keywords. It was never meant to be definitive, a list of all possibilities. It was a methodology. How to take a word and look at the social relations which help to form and define it and how meaning changes over time. According to The Shorter Oxford EnglishContinue reading “Global Supply Chains”

On the river

I had a clear idea to go to Gravesend and take the ferry across the river, but only a vague notion of what to do after that. On the basis of a suggestion I walked east towards DP World London Gateway. Procter and Gamble factory at West Thurrock seen from Ebbsfleet station. It makes soapsContinue reading “On the river”