pics

so there i am coming back from a gig. so what better thing to do than take some photos while i slowly ambled back home.

here we are on the bethnal green road, just as sclater street splits from it and runs towards brick lane (which everyone knows is the spiritual centre of england). a lone phone box is like a beacon in the night.

this end of bethnal green road is undergoing some serious redevelopment. the wall that the phone box is against used to be part of a warren of railway arches that were used for a multitude of things - markets, gyms, art galleries.... there used to be a through road via a tunnel from here to the commercial. the tunnel is gone, knocked down in preparation for the extension of the tube (will it be ready in time for the olympics, probably, but only just...) the tunnel used to be atmospheric (albeit it was the smell of dank piss) a taste of the ye olde east end. it was also the haunt of many of the ladies of the night, (they have moved across the road now to ebor street and chance street). going a little further up bethnal green road and just as you get to brick lane there have been a number of plush looking apartments built, and more coming. the area is that complex mix of the old and the new neither seeming to complement each other, both showing the other parts up for what they are.

when i was a kid i would have been taken to the (now disused)pub that is on the corner of bethnal green and sclater street, as an adult i walk by it on my way to other things and rarely give it a second thought, but it is part of the family history.

the first photo is moody, arty and is what happens when you don't use a tripod or the flash.



the second photo is with the flash.




the first one is a potential turner prize winner....