Open Plan

Well, the plan is always open, isn't it? Those of us (with any imagination) who don't live on the street know that a place is reserved for us there. The alternative reality of the street (call it The Road if you like) follows us wherever we go. We might live in a snugly tree-shaded suburb, barred with birdsong. But, when certain things happen, those walls can be removed as swiftly as stage props. And, as Heaney noted in his 9/11 poem, any thing can happen.

I once heard on the radio a scientist (i.e. an educated person of 'a certain standing') declare that he never gives anything to beggars. Perhaps he's telepathic and can read the undeserving lives behind each indigent pair of eyes. But it was the fact that he felt it necessary to announce this that revealed his hand (a very poor one).

I did ask her permission incidentally, and I gave her something (far too little). But I should have asked her name; something I don't normally do when shooting street-portraits.