Some Friday photos

I don't take many photographs while I'm chatting with Graham  and learning about the own centre from his perspective but after we finish speaking I ramble around and take a few pics of things that I notice. I also notice a better camera would be fun (and result in better photos...)


Ok, so bear with me. Yes, this is a photo of a parking payment station. But.  I'm calling this number a lot. Something I'm unused to. I usually use public transport but to help keep things more Covid secure I've borrowed a car. This new ritual of calling to make payment is frustrating and strange, I haven't regularly used a car for more than 15 years. When I was last regularly driving Smartphones, weren't a thing. I used to keep a little collection of change to pay for parking in the dashboard of my car. I think about the little daily practices that change with time - how alien paying on a phone would have seemed back than. How the mundane, everyday things of life are made interesting by time.

It's also significant because this car park is going. It's being built on. I didn't think I'd be able to park here today. Blocks of flats are going up on these two car parks, there's very mixed responses from people I talk to. Concerns about where people will park to use the town and especially the market. Fears that the disruption and lack of access will see the end of the 800 year old market, already struggling and now hit by Covid. Interest in whether the new housing, when finished could revitalise this area. Concerns about the quality of the new flats and who the housing will be for, and affordable for.



In St George's Centre 


         
Pocahontas statue - her view of the river now blocked by housing, she's looking out away from this place. The statue of her is in motion, as if she wants to step off and away. I've not had much time to sit with her story, it seems she died in Gravesend but there are different theories about whether or not this was the final resting place of her body. I've enjoyed reading Little White Feather and the Hunter, a book about a film made by Anna Lucas, I want to watch the film - which you can see here



         

Cat spotting...



There's something thrilling and nefarious and ancient about the little alleyways that criss cross the old town. I feel a little tremble of anticipation as I explore them. I think about all the tunnels that there are - here and in Northfleet. Things that happen in the shadows and secret places.


                        

The metal studs in the paved area in front of The Woodville / Council Offices mark the outline of an ancient, deconsecrated graveyard. The headstones can be seen tucked at eh end, the bodies were re-interred. I'm interested in the traces that these layers of use leave behind.




Noticing how the pandemic is changing the landscape and use of the town.


                                

As I get in my car to leave I notice the car next to me - I wonder if this is Genny Jones, the Confidence Queen? Recognising this makes me feel a tiny bit like I belong here.

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