Floating in London
It's my first time back in London since the pandemic. When I left in the middle of 2020, during a lockdown, I felt the weight of the world's uncertainty and collective anxiety. This time, it feels like the world is ostensibly on the other side of the pandemic (or has turned a blind eye). Things have changed since I was last here; I've grown older, etc etc. There's also more hope and greater excitement for the life that lies ahead. I've been walking the streets in a dream-like state (almost floating down them). After all these years of dreaming of returning, it doesn't quite feel real.
I saw an exhibition of Giorgio Morandi paintings at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art. Floating vessels.
I walked along the River Lea one morning and became intrigued by the people who live in the barges that float against the riverside. I followed one man as he and his dog moved their barge from one part of the river to another. I guess that these are people who are constantly floating, constantly shifting location.
While I've been walking, I've been listening to this Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds song on repeat: Night Raid from their 2019 album Ghosteen. Although it's an entirely different genre, the song (and album) may even be as good as Cave's early timeless work. I love Warren Ellis' electronic bell sound and Cave's intense, solemn lyrics: 'your head in a pool of your own streaming hair, Jesus lying in his mother's arms...' The song makes me float in a reflective revery. In a recent interview Cave said that the song 'attempts to present the idea that the everyday human gesture is always a heartbeat away from the miraculous; that ultimately we make things happen through our actions, way beyond our understanding or intention.'