Rabbit, walk.

With thanks to the ever wonderful Mizhenka for finding it, here's a giant rabbit on the Hornsey Road:

It's from Dazed & Confused & Channel 4' s Random Acts series of three minute shorts. 

The small and sidelined part of my mind that doesn't overthink things knows that the film makers chose the road because it was near them, but the rest of me likes to imagine that they scanned every street in London, agreed consistent metrics to compare them, ran a best practice quality assurance process on the results and came to the evidenced conclusion that if a demoralised rabbit were to live anywhere it would have to be off the Hornsey Road.

The Hornsey Road's Myspace page

is long dormant, but it does have this description:

'Hornsey Road, in the London Borough of Islington, is the epitome of urban chic. Snaking its way through the middle of a series of recently rejuvenated and "up and coming" areas (Finsbury Park, Holloway, Stroud Green, Archway, Crouch End) without being part of any of them, Hornsey Road has managed to retain a special kind of street charm that is tragically becoming rare in modern London. 

None of these nouveau riche areas wants Hornsey Road, and Hornsey Road doesn't want any of them. Hornsey Road exists in its own time and space, like that alternate 1985 in Back to the Future II where Biff's in charge and there's tanks on the street and prostitutes everywhere.'

Whoever wrote that should write more. 

Tumbling

I've started a Tumblr.

It's here.

Foxes being foxes

Thanks to Daniel Douglas, here are foxes sauntering down the Hornsey Road:

I wonder if they know this isn't where they are meant to be, or if I'm anthropomorphising and teleologicalising* like crazy. 


*No, I'm not sure it's a word either. 

Location Location Location playlet

I daydream about being a playwright. It's like my 'being an architect' dream in that I know I'd be no good, but sometimes a setting or a snatch of dialogue is perfect and I forget that. Last week Channel 4 took a trip down unshiny Hornsey Road and this happened:

Setting: flat above a takeaway

Characters: Phil, Courtney Love's future sister in law, and Hipster Couple with £230k

Accidental Playlet: ''The Hornsey Road. I'm sure you're familiar with it''

Kirsty (voiceover): 'Not the prettiest street'.

Phil (voiceover): 'It's not, but it has potential. I just hope they can see it'.

Phil to Hipster couple: 'The Hornsey Road. I'm sure you're familiar with it'.

Hipster couple: 'Yeah'.

Phil: 'I see this as a flat with a plan. Get in here, tart it up, and you can sell it up in three year's time and make some money on the way through'.

Phil (voiceover) 'This sort of plan to get ahead of the market is only possible because of the high demand for these flats in North London. It's not necessarily going to work in most parts of the country'.

Hipster couple: 'We kind of wanted to get off a dirty main road'.

They bought in Turnpike Lane.