The dawn sky above Manchester was divided. Above the city centre was a velvety cloudscape, the colour of burnished gold and tobacco, whilst the poorer suburbs of the east and north were sleeping under deep, plain blue. Bats dived over the grass of Improbable Hill, pinching midgets from the air. The local songbirds, hidden in a thick clot of trees, seemed reluctant to begin their chorus of shrill messages. The streets were still and peaceful.
I too was quiet in my movements, fearful of disturbing local residents, even though I wasn’t really that close. Perhaps I felt disrespectful, or like an intruder. I hadn’t slept, due to the early hour of first light, and yet I was alert, slightly fearful of the slightest sound. As the first tears of blue appeared in the awakening sky I thought I heard voices nearby, and tensed, but no-one came.
Beyond the hill and the shrub land of the old Ebeneezer Works, the modern centre of Manchester dominated my view. A dull hum, constant and sinister, rose from the streets below the new apartment blocks. No wonder the birds remained quiet. I quietly assembled my camera and tripod and began the ritual of framing the scene before me.
Later I made my way down Dalton Street, above Collyhurst Road. The city felt so much closer here, and I marvelled at the cleared landscape across the Irk Valley, soon to be a huge pubic park. The ceaseless churn of development felt overwhelming. I couldn’t remember how it used to look, a place I thought I knew well. Again I considered that I was observing an exorcism, the ghosts of this crucible land banished without consideration for their crucial time spent building this city.
The divided sky melded together to become a bland grey. Fat drops of rain fell, and the scent of a May morning filled my nostrils. For a second I was able to imagine the meadows that once formed this district. I looked towards the high rise apartments poking high towards the gloomy, bland clouds. A sign was attached to the hoardings of another construction site that stated ‘Our Safety is Your Safety’.
