‘I was going home to Belfast to visit my mother. It was the spring of 1998 and the weather was very good for that time of year.’
I was going home to Belfast to visit my mother. It was the spring of 1998 and the weather was very good for that time of year. My mother lived on her own in Ligoniel, North Belfast, in the little Protestant enclave where I had grown up. Ligoniel is a mill village that once had a mixed population of …
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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.
‘She had offered four men £2,500 each to live like battery hens for a week.’
‘At night her friends let loose and relax.’
Photography by Vera Yijun Zhou of house parties and clubs in Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing.
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‘Now more than ever environmentalists need to remember what it’s like to write for that real world.’
