Notes from the Island

The Island welcomes everybody. Every day many visit and thousands pass close by, though few notice it. It is a place of brief encounters, of buried secrets, of moments glimpsed in rear-view mirrors. A brief pause on a journey. The Island has no border controls, no prisons, no buying and selling. Is it a utopia? Perhaps it could be, a sanctuary of non-interference amidst the surveillance cameras. The Island, London SE14 - much more than just a traffic island on the A2, New Cross Road.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Twinned with Shell Island


We are very keen to twin the Island with other interesting sites, including of course other islands. This could take the form of bringing offerings to the Island from other places, or vice versa. Our first such self-organised twinning arrangement is with Shell Island in Wales, from where Pirate Paul brought back these shells to the Island. We can now reveal that this was the content of the hidden treasure chest, now sadly swept away by street clearers.

Pirate Visit


Last night the Island hosted a visit by the Pirate Society from Goldsmiths. Timbers were shivered prior to retiring to the nearby White Hart. The Pirates had various ideas - could they seize another island further down the New Cross Road and proclaim a pirate republic? Can we get a Jolly Roger flying on the Island? Can we have a beach party on the Island (maybe when it gets a bit warmer)?

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Work

We like to think of the Island as a place which has abolished work, but the other day we did come across somebody in a fluorescent yellow jacket clearly engaged in paid employment there. He appeared to be counting the traffic passing the Island, with others of his colleagues sitting on the corner of Pepys Road doing the same. In a recent chat with Ken, landlord of The White Hart, we discovered that there is a proposal to change the traffic flow and possibly even join up the Island with the mainland by the pub. Presumably then it wouldn't be an Island anymore. We would be prepared to surrender this sovereignty in the interests of reducing traffic accidents, but only if the conditions on the Island can be extended to the New Cross mainland - no borders, no prisons, no violence, lots of flowers...