Essays
Essays from our community.
Smart Cities: An Essay on the modern city and what a smart future looks like
Manchester: ZT. Feb 23.
Manchester’s streets are usually soaked but today it’s only with the sun. It’s all old red brick,
graphic paint; the rugged, industrial past and the brash, polished present. Here, the streets
are long, straight and flat. The sky towers over and engulfs you. Skyscrapers are trying to
encroach on its supremacy, but for now, their tendrils only spread so far. When the sun
shines it beams down everywhere, it can be glimpsed at the end of roads in the evening and
bathes the city in light in the day. The fiery stains of sunsets go on and on, their canvas is
bigger here. When the clouds roll in they press down and quieten. They creep under doors
and through cracks in windows. They dull, dampen and make it hard to remember what the
light felt like. They are part of the collective consciousness here. They are reflected in the
harsh, quick wits and spiky, straight-faced intelligence of the people. That crackling strength
wasn’t developed during languishing, endless sun-soaked days lazing around in parks and
squares. It has been formed under the pressure of the thick, granite skies. It has grown while
shoved around small tables in dark corners of pubs and clubs. Sitting in cold, damp smoking
areas with wet trainers and sodden, fur-trimmed hoods. Jibes are thrown like kisses, hugs
are rough and quick. Piss-taking is delivered indiscriminately but with warmth and a twinkle if
the recipient is beloved. The people, my people, glisten and glitter like the wet, lamp-lit
pavements under their feet. An oil slick, sheen cloaks the streets of my city. It is reflective
like a vast urban ocean of glass, canals and concrete. The heavens and my city are one.
Climbing With Friends: ND, May 2015 I climbed, then I climbed higher. More directions then I knew existed, More douchebags then i wish to mention. So I climbed on, until all that accompanied me was a goat, a cow and a bird. Much nicer than an Isreali, a Russian and a Spaniard. Honky's. Being one myself I can quickly analyse the worst of honky's. The goat, the cow and the bird were, none of them, honkys or douchebags. This was a relief at first, but they led me astray. I first followed the goat, that was fruitless as he only wanted to chew and although prtial myself to chewing I decided to abstain. Then i followed the cow. The same problem. The bird was gone.