Brick Lane

On Sunday, as well as going to the breaking battle, i hung out in Brick Lane with an American friend who i knew in Sevilla who was passing through London on her way to the States (get that?).

I realised i've never acually been to Brick Lane before, despite having studied it's regenaration in Geography at school and feeling like i've heard lots about it. And i guess i'm behind the times because what struck me wasn't the Bangladeshi influence but the incredible amount of "arty/trendy" whatever-you-want-to-call-them-young-people filling the narrow streets and markets, sitting outside eating international cuisine and perusing the art galleries. what struck me most was the juxtaposition (good word) of the fluorescent colours of 80's inspired outfits - bright pink shoe laces, blue tights, yellow rimmed sunglasses and of the lit-up take away signs... against the faded greys of slightly dilapidated buildings and the tired faces of the street sellers and their second hand goods. how i wished i had not forgotten my camera battery. and, also, that i could be invisible when it comes to taking photos because i feel it can be quite imposing and i love to capture people's faces, and that i knew more about light... because i would have wanted to capture the brightness and the darkness all at once. anyways. i didn't. just a few quick shots with my friend's camera that i'll put up if they came out OK.

i did find this photo though, which doesn't have much to do with what i just said but it is from Brick Lane and i like it!

'Brick Lane launderette 1982' Phil Maxwell

Aside from photos, it also struck me again how London is a whole other world. Ademas, it's hundreds of different worlds all in one place. Which i find exciting. But also realise i am very much not a part of any one of those worlds. I felt like an intruder walking down the crowded streets. I wonder how the inhabitants of Brick Lane feel about the area being the "place to be" for a group of people of a very different culture. I know this is no phenomenon, that loads of place evolve over time, see waves of new nationalities/class flow in then out, buildings rise and crumble, reputations change... and it always makes me wonder what it's like for the people who remain.