...then Hackney Hoxton and Shoreditch

Emm, this was supposed to be the Saturday post after team rashbre had entered another one of those Shoot Experience photo walkabout competitions. Unfortunately it all went a bit pear shaped. We had tickets and were kind of prepared. The last one we did was, for us, an anytime start and this suited us just fine. This one had an un-noticed 'be there at eleven am' message in the email.

oops.

So turning up at two o' clock in the afternoon wasn't a bright idea. Then being told the clues took around 30 minutes each and that everyone had to be back at four thirty to upload the finished items.

So dutifully taking the team rashbre materials, including the team badges with 'I love Hackney' written on them it was time to go outside Cargo to plan the rescue operation.

That's when the pub came into view. After a Grolsch, this became a 'cut the losses' situation. So instead of hammering around the circuit snapping wildly and producing some ill-planned entries, it became more fun to abandon the competition and to simply wander around 'the area formerly known as Hackney' now called Hoxton, Shoreditch and Brick Lane.


Hoxton itself has become one of the gentrification areas in London and the small grassy Hoxton Square was filled with people chilling out for the afternoon, overlooked by various trendy restaurants and art galleries.

Indicatively, around the square, with graffiti like stencilling onto the pavement, was a series of signs for the "Cereal Killer", either advertising an Australian rock band or Kellogg's breakfast foods.


The nature of the area creates a fusion between street culture typified by graffiti at one end and posh art galleries at the other. As an example, there's a shop which has been converted into an advertisement for the recent Chemical Brothers album.

So there's a balance required here to interpret the difference between substance, pretence with perhaps a little wry humour. I'd need to spend more time in this finely delineated area to be able to make the necessary judgement. ShoHo (Shoreditch/Hoxton) is less clear-cut than the SoHo of Manhattan, yet shares some of the characteristics.

and the Hoxton snaps were on the way to Brick Lane...