At first there was a film

At first there was a film

What is London? Who is London? I was always frustrated by the depiction in movies, there was the romanticised very posh London of Notting Hill or Love, Actually or the very deprived, miserable and working class London of films a la Ken Loach. It never felt quite right. Especially how people sounded. Nobody I knew sounded like anyone on film or tv. Especially young people. Then came Attack the Block (2011), I was living in Holloway at the time and I remember the sheer joy and excitement when I watched the trailer - FINALLY, yes yes yes this is how people around me actually speak! And it was so funny, I was giddy, counting down to opening night.

The joy of feeling seen and represented

Then a book

Back in the days when we still went to bookshops, before Amazon took over. I picked up the following book and I think you can see a theme coming up

I just loved the format, the sheer variety of voices and insights, it made me fall even harder in love with London. I also remember after finishing it of making a list with all the types of people I would love to hear from in a follow up book. (Unfortunately, the follow up book turns out to be this format in New York - it just came out on 23 March 2021) .

Finally a podcast episode

One of my favourite podcasts with a great name nonetheless is Rough Translation on NPR

There I was in my corridor on the yoga mat doing my lockdown exercise when I heard the episode Hello Neighbor. It talked about how a village in Ireland came together to support its older villagers who were asked to "cocoon" (shield). It was something we all knew had happened here, too. I had signed up to the NHS Responder scheme, calling up older people for a check in and chat. One part of the story made me listen up - they created a community radio show which was interviews with local people: scout leader, postie, barber. Something that made people still feel connected to their neighbours, even if they were not physically. I loved the idea!

Listen to the episode here:

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/08/889047625/hello-neighbor?t=1617862470367

Coming together

And really this is how the idea for my podcast came about, I wanted to hear from people who sounded like my friends, colleagues, neighbours talking about places that I see on the surface all the time but don't know the (hi)story behind. I want my village (Tottenham) in London feel as interconnected as this village in Ireland