Assignment Breakfasts
A recent post on Sion Touhig’s blog reminded me of days spent working as a photographer in London. For that first assignment of the morning, you’d have to leave the house at least two hours before - in case you got stuck in some nasty London morning traffic - but would usually end up at the location at least an hour before the event. How to fill that dead time?
Find the nearest, least healthy-looking “greasy-spoon cafe” and sit down with a full english breakfast, cup of tea, cigarette, The Guardian newspaper… and slowly but gently gear your mind up for the working day. I always relished those hours - a psychological pre-emptive strike on the day ahead.
Well as Sion has noted, a guy in London by the name of Russell Davies is thinking along those same lines and has created two blogs complete with photos that are pretty self-explanatory - eggbaconchipsandbeans and agoodplaceforacupofteaandathink. Whilst we’re at it, he also has a blog on another of my faves - the dulcit tones of BBC Radio 4.
Reader Jason Bye writes to point-out a photo-documentary book and website on “London’s greatest Twentieth Century vintage Formica caffs” - Classic Cafes - by photographer Adrian Maddox which looks to be interesting. The “Top-ten” page on the website has some great quotes describing these fading monuments to British culture that are slowly being cast away to a Starbucks-driven future - such as “This is hardcore: seeping bitterness, brooding desolation, simmering accidie, curdled sourness … The Corner Cafe just delivers!”. Nice.
Now I’m based in Cairo it’s a choice of modern Starbucks-style WiFi cafes, or the very seeped-in-character traditional Egyptian tea-houses… but neither are quite the same.
Got any assignment-breakfast stories?
