MIDDLEWOOD LOCKS 7.27AM
Walking towards Middlewood Locks, down Oldfield Road in Salford at around 6.40am, I was passed by a young man carrying on his back a case containing a tuba, or maybe a euphonium. His head was down, lost in thought as he made his way, I assumed, to some orchestral practice somewhere. I’m not sure why I found this slightly absurd, but I did. I wondered, should he practise at home, what it must be like living next to him in a small, modern flat.
The morning was sharp with cold, and already the path through the new estate was busy with young, panting people jogging before work. Others were walking their dogs whilst staring into phones, only breaking from their screens to pick up the mess left by their beloved pet. I suspect it was pet owners that had provided me with the opportunity for my picture on this winter morning.
At the bottom of a steep, grassed bank lay a plastic toy house with a red roof, possibly a palace for some gilded pooch, I’ll never know. The mini dwelling was laid on its side, possibly blown over by the recent storm. Near it were two cat baskets. It felt like a place where rough sleeping pets had gathered, reminding me of the tents now appearing in city centre spaces.
Across the railway, beyond the wire fence, new high rise apartments filled the dawn sky. I stood the house back up, and it looked ridiculous against the back drop of new flats, with their bright lights of progress. A worker in hi-vis orange overalls walked the tracks, swishing his arms as if he were a priest at mass swirling cleansing incense into the congregation.
A train in the distance hooted, and the man stood aside as it sped past, the carriages filled with commuters who would have left their homes long before I was awake to be here for dawn. Two large crows flew in formation up to the summit of the apartment block away in the distance, and settled, looking down imperiously at the new city before them. A strong peal of throaty craws echoed across this fragmented land, and the lights went out, as if the crow had issued an edict.
