a london diary

2000 05 06 saturday

Hollywood sun and July warmth. Lucozade bottle in the gutter. Sweet, sickly smell of (halal) meat. Bare shoulders, open-top cars with ecstatic music on. Sari shops, mainly with bowing mannequins, but one is slumped, seated, legs apart, head flopping, elbows on knees. Discount supermarkets and takeaway chicken.

From the overground underground way out east, overlooking green fields, the occasional river, tower blocks, scrap yards and factories to Docklands, through security cordons on deserted roads to Canary Wharf, Island Gardens and the Cutty Sark.

Sailboats behind on the river while the hill beckons. Good views. Sun shining. Lots of people and trees now green. Then overland again from Greenwich to Charing Cross along 7 lines of tracks, past an old railway walk between an incinerating generator and football stadium.