From the beginning

I'm currently immersed in Colson Whitehead's excellent Harlem trilogy. Not only a trilogy but each of the three books are also broken down into three parts and tells the story chronologically of New York hustler, Ray Carney - a very likable furniture store owner & parttime crook. Harlem Shuffle (which I've nearly finished) takes Carney from 1959 to 1964 and rolls the pitch perfectly. In a city still struggling to find its post war prosperity, we're treated to  a very hardboiled (and vey noir) New York - a metropolis awash with jazz bars, gin joints, violence and segregation. The follow-up (which I can't wait to start), Crook Manifesto, picks up Carney's story again in 1971, closing out in '76. And the concluding novel, Cool Machine, is set against the backdrop of the 1980s. Whitehead's narrative technique is superlative throughout. It may not be a life he's lived, but his research, you can tell, is meticulous; you can see these streets in your mind's eye. These are mean streets occupied by hoodlums and chancers. Rich men and poor men. Whores and pimps. Saints and sinners. And I love it. Highly recommended.

Incoming

I went to see a delightful little film yesterday; very idiosyncratic, very quirky. Imagine Bill Forsyth had directed The Wicker Man and you'd be getting close. A brother and sister are the only occupants of a remote Scottish island where they have lived all their lives and where their patents died thirty years ago. And then an 'incomer' arrives: a council underling has been sent by his sadistic manager to evict the siblings with immediate effect. (Mild) horror ensues coupled with humour, warmth and not a little pathos. A story about storytelling. Very meta. Very uplifting. Great performances from Dominik Gleeson as Daniel the incomer, Gayle Rankin as Isla and Grant O'Rourke as her brother, Sandy. No surprise it's already scooped an award at Sundance. More will surely follow.

The Incomer - Trailer (2026)

The road is long, with many a winding turn

Not for a long time has a work of fiction clocking in at 400+ pages carried me along quite like Beneath the Trees of Eden by Tim Binding. It follows the story of Louis and Alice, an itinerant couple: Louis is a road builder (he worked on Britain's first motorway in 1958), and Alice, his moll - and so much more) from 1967-1984 as they crisscross the country in a succession of suboptimal British cars (Zephyrs; Rovers; Cortinas; Granadas) following the work, following the roads, following the drink. Louis is 25 years older than Alice at the start of the novel; though by the end that number has easily doubled. They live off the grid and are known by name only (no bank accounts, no National Insurance numbers, no nothing). But then they have a baby and everything changes. Or does it? Chester is more man cub than child and it isn't long before he's left to his own devices. As Louis ages (rapidly) he continually seeks redemption and Alice, now demoted from lover to carer, tries to make sense of the changing landscape (literally and figuratively). It's a love story on many levels - Louis & Alice, Louis & the A1 (''the backbone of England''), and Louis & the past). By the end you too will have fallen in love with the Baldock bypass, Scammonden, Scotch Corner and all the caffs and truck stops in between). An ode to the road. And brebis.     

It dazzles, it excites

In readiness for Autumn*/Winter I've just had one of my coats relined. I can't tell you how many times I've 'lost' keys and coins thru holey pockets and into the netherworld that lived behind the, old, tired and frayed lining. I could have just had the pockets repaired or even parted company with the coat (but that was never gonna happen), however, although the garment was preloved when I liberated it from a vintage shop in Prague 10 years ago, it'll still go round the clock at least one more time.

First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining (2014)

* A timely reminder that October's Photo Challenge is all things Autumnal - get yer snaps to me by the 25th of this month, if you'd be so kind.

Megawatt Valley

I'm still kicking myself for not being able to make the pop-up exhibition on Saturday calling itself Megawatt Valley. Megawatt Valley was the name given to the region once housing 13 electricity generating stations - a geographical area (with the Trent Valley at its core) spanning Staffordshire/Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire). It's also the name given to the (one-off) newspaper/zine edited by Nottingham photographer David Severn and pals which has some amazing photographs of Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. 

I was at a loose end on Monday so went over to Ratcliffe to have (another) look around. As I've mentioned before, the power station is now decommissioned and will soon be blown up. It'll be a tragedy; all eight cooling towers are coming down - they aren't even keeping one for posterity. And with it being next to the canal, river, M1 motorway and directly under the flightpath of East Midlands Airport, it'll be chaos when the detonators go off.