‘The city has defied many plans for its regeneration and its centre is a dispiriting mess’
The third week of November last year brought the first cold snap of the season. Across the North of England people woke to a white frost, followed by bright sunshine and clear blue skies. In Bradford, in north-west Yorkshire, where the overnight temperatures had dropped to minus five, Mario Buitrago…
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‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘Most family relationships are difficult, and sometimes they can become the most difficult human relationships of all.’
‘Photography always reveals truths about the relationship between the photographer and the person being photographed.’
‘Growing up is learning how to take a stance, before the camera and before the world.’
‘I tried to work out how many elements I would have plugged if I retired at sixty, and soon I was fatigued before a simple subtraction.’
Fiction by A. Jiang.
‘The flirtations of insects and plants are furtive, hidden and often so brief that if you literally blink you might miss what exactly is going on.’
