How the fuck did October happen? Where has the year gone? One advantage of the year rolling along so fast is that the arrival of October means that the biggest and best thing to happen in Nottingham is just around the corner. It is almost time for Goose Fair. I couldn't resist a little wander around this afternoon despite the rain. Every year I take photographs during the construction of the fair and the aftermath when everything gets put away for another year, but if I am honest it makes for a boring collection because the layout of the fair stays pretty much the same, therefore my pictures do too. This year I decided to film as I walked around, it's only done on my phone so it looks like I'm peering at the fair through two black pillars, but watching it back on my laptop I realised that I have made something of interest. Not something of interest for now, (I'm not even going to upload it) but rather for the future. Thanks to the olden days equivalents of people like me, there is a wealth of footage available that was probably considered quite mundane when it was recorded but now gives us a fascinating insight into our past. As I walked around the fair with my camera I caught the work involved in bringing this event to life, people working in the rain and through the cold to make sure that Goose Fair is ready and operational by Wednesday. We always think they won't have time but they do of course know what they're doing.
When you watch ancient footage of nothing more exciting than life simply happening, do you wonder about the people? Those nameless women in big dresses pushing prams and men in suits, hats and moustaches going about their day to day life, who are they and what was their story? Even the babies in the prams are probably dead now, or too old to recognise themselves walking down a street that no longer exists due to redevelopment and progress. Housewives on the doorstep talking to their neighbours while the children play in a traffic free road, beating carpets over a clothes line and wringing the next wash load through the mangle. What became of those people who ran the little shops and businesses where now stands a massive supermarket? Do they have a living relative left or are these 100% ghost films of people who passed through life without making a mark, merely living their life to the same three-meals-a-day routine, shopping and cleaning and looking after the children while the husband was at work until it was time to die. Husbands returning from work to a home cooked meal before having a wash and brush up before the pub opens for evening business. Milkmen, postmen, coal men, rag and bone men, rent collectors and money lenders knocking on doors, maybe sending the child to answer with a little white lie about nobody being at home. Gathering round the radio to listen to the news to find out what happens outside the bubble of their community followed by the light relief of a variety show to listen to straight after. None of those people are here to tell their story, their story that might not have been very interesting then but offers a lesson about life back then. Those flickering images fade and the people thereon are forgotten. I'm not saying that's how it should be, things change because they have to. Nowadays both people in the marriage work, household chores are split, children don't play in the road because of cars and fear, the local pub is now a pizza takeaway or shop with the word 'Mart' somewhere in its title. The postman and the milkmen are replaced by emails and online shopping, the coal man has been replaced by central heating and the rent arrears are paid by Direct Debit. Yet despite all this change for better or worse, life still goes on and life is still routine and mundane. Tomorrow's historians aren't walking around with a huge camera documenting everyday life, they don't need to because everyday life is documented by everybody because everybody has a camera in their pocket. Every outing, every thought, every meeting with friends is there on Facebook for the world to see. Maybe one day when I am long dead someone will dig out the short video I made at Goose Fair today and marvel at the workers going about their business. Maybe the people of the future will wonder why I filmed the entire thing from behind two black pillars.
We are the Mitchell and Kenyons of our time.
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