The City, The Country

[catalog]

7 different card and gift shops. The man in the bookshop looks like he's about to die

 

[luka]

they hate their parents with a vicious passion. me and Craner know two brothers that grew up in a village called Tollesbury in Essex

Tollesbury - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

and they will never forgive their parents. also everyone they grew up with is dead of suicide or overdoses. driven mad by insidious boredom

 

[catalog]

Imperative that you leave at 18 otherwise you'll be stuck all your life

 

[catalog]

Random stoners knocking on your door at 11pm with their Bluetooth speakers. Want to have a chill and play you the latest bonobo

 

[luka]

you walk up and down the same street past the same 7 card and gift shops and the propetiers stare out folornly at you, desperate for someone to walk through the door, not even to buy anything, just to be acknowledged, noticed, made to feel human again.

 

[luka]

shop owners like orphan puppies in the pet shop window eyes full of unassuageable sadness and longing. you have to harden yourself to it.

 

[catalog]

Greengrocer and everyones proud of it. but its massively overpriced and theyve no fucking galangal

 

[luka]

if you walk into the bookshop the owner will strangle you with 'intelligent' conversation. youre the first literate person he's talked to all year. he starts telling you about the research hes doing on Roman Britain, for a novel he'd like to write. shows you a dubious coin he dug up in the back garden. persistent snuffles from book dust and mildedew

 

[catalog]

you look all over and he's not got a copy of bleak house. You've been in 20 minutes so he asks what you are looking for, you tell him, he says he'll have a look, you really don't want him too, but he does anyway, looks like the exertion could cause a heart attack. he can't find one.

 

[luka]

no trees anywhere. not a single tree. just hedgerows and fields, hedgerows and fields. no pavements either so you're always in danger of being flattened by a tractor driver drunk at 6am on a Tuesday

 

[catalog]

there are several posh 'bistros' but the peroni on tap is too gassy and the chairs are too tall. a cold fustiness pervades the atmosphere

 

[catalog]

the sound of passing traffic is surprisingly loud. you get into car arguments on the narrow roads. someone lets down your car tyres cos youve accidentally parked in front of their house. your plantpots get stolen on the eve of the local festival.

 

[luka]

there are several posh 'bistros' but the peroni on tap is too gassy and the chairs are too tall. a cold fustiness pervades the atmosphere

local worthies taking the wife out. he's got his quilted gilet on and the wife has ironed his jeans.

 

[luka]

everything on the menu features some exotic ingredient fashionable ten years ago. pomegranate seeds on your quiche lorraine

 

[catalog]

absolute stench of perfume

 

[luka]

flinty eyed Rotary club men with red veined cheeks. probably done a sex murder.

 

[catalog]

bakery window has been smashed and they can't afford to get it fixed. bank has been converted into a 'tap' beer room

 

[luka]

wilted rocket leaves, undressed, as a garnish. caramelised red onion and goats cheese

 

[catalog]

too many small yappy dogs. they're on leads but they still run up to you and try to nip. 'don't keith' shouts the owner but they are shouting at you not the dog.

 

[luka]

if youre not in the bistro youre getting coleslaw with everything. compulsory coleslaw.