tantmieux chronicles: How it Begins
The place of my youth was not what one would call a beautiful part of town. It was North East London and the houses were simple and mostly built brick and each street had a pub on each corner that served as a bookend, hemming us in at every turn; around every turn there was a sweets shot offering Wall’s Ice Cream and long, black licorice whips that looked like shoelaces. Our other home was in Paisley, Scotland. We once ran into some Americans there and asked, excitedly, So what brings you to Paisley, to which they answered they were “Doing a study on economic deprivation.” That should give you some idea of my youth, and I’ll leave out the neighborhood fights, the Skinheads (the real deal, not the fashion kind but the movement as it began in the 70s in east London). All you need to know is that we did not have all that we wanted because nobody in our neighborhood did and that was okay. It was life and you adjusted. [Read more →]
