Since the last update, there has been shooting…

In the city, on the site of the 1992 Baltic Exchange bombing:

And in Leicester Square:

An informative morning was spent at the Trooping of the Colour. Unfortunately, it was not possible to attain the ICA balcony, where Keiller shot from, leading to some creative uses of the tripod. (The tripod causes problems: I was told I wasn’t allowed to use it in Leicester Square by a particularly gittish security guard for “health and safety” reasons. A policeman at the Trooping, having watched without action for a good 10 minutes, also said I wasn’t allowed to use it – none of his colleagues complained when I set up again 10 yards away.)

I found Brent Cross much changed – Keiller’s fountain is gone, and the security guards pounced as soon as my camera cleared my bag. After a fruitless hour trying to obtain permission for a single brief shot from the duty managers (health and safety, risk assessment, “our customers will sue us for absolutely anything”), I shot some wobbly footage on my video-capable stills camera instead.

At Staples Corner, site of the second bombing of 10 April 1992, one of those periodic pieces of intense strangeness occurred. The next site to the rebuilt retail store is owned by Robinsons, a removal firm. Strange enough, but when I realised Robinson was actually inserting himself into the frame I knew the game was up.

Staples Corner is a strange, resonant site even without that. I’d like to return to it – the metal gangways and foursquare pedestrian bridges are strongly reminiscent of Keiller’s earlier “Southbridge Park”:

Finally, last Wednesday, Tower Bridge was advertising the arrival of a mysterious “Vessel” with not one but two tugs, an opportunity I was not going to miss. The ship turned out to be a French naval frigate, the Latouche Tréville, visiting London for 5 days on “diplomatic duties”:

That’s what I’ve been up to. How about you?