OLDHAM ROAD, 4.57AM, ELECTION DAY – The alarm went off at 3.50am, and the birds were already chattering excitedly at the new dawn, like children up too early on their birthday. The sky hung darkly above, revealing patches of blue that reflected in puddles across empty streets and pitted car parks. The soft whirr of a milk float was all that intruded on the songs being whistled around me. I’d decided the night before on what I was going to […]
DERBY STREET, CHEETHAM HILL 5.15AM – At 4AM, which is now my waking up time for Not Quite Light, I feel like death and it is only the thought of life that takes me from my tomb and out into the day. It was dark and felt as dawn could never arrive. Even the birds seemed reluctant to announce dawn this morning, as the consistent rain spattered onto the pavements. I made my way up towards Cheetham Hill to an […]
BACK ST. GEORGE’S ROAD 6.31AM – It rains a lot in Manchester, or so we become programmed to believe. Water follows our Mancunian lives each and every year, washing the streets and buildings. But not the cars it seems. I’d found the great American car wash by accident, and have never yet seen it in any other state than behind a barred gate and utterly shut. I’d love to know what, in particular, makes it an American car wash. Is […]
LUDGATE HILL 6.03AM – I’ve always felt that the soul of Not Quite Light lies in the streets around Angel Meadows. I keep being drawn back there, fascinated by the history of that small patch of ground that contains the bodies of 40,000 Mancunian ancestors, and that also inspired the work of Engels and Marx. There are buildings and towns that trade on ghosts and hauntings but never have I felt fearful of being so close to the bones of […]
EMPIRE TAKE-AWAY, EMPIRE STREET 5.50AM – I’d gone to drive around Cheetham Hill the previous evening, to research for the shoot in the morning. It had been the day of the Manchester derby and United had won against a City team in decline. There were plenty of young lads still out celebrating, drunk and in small groups. The sky was as red as the Stretford End, and I watched cars patrol the streets, men in the driving seat looking for […]