Hat Shopping… Starring Elvis Costello and Diane Krall
These things I have seen… A single bottle of cider teeters on a conveyor belt which lurches forward and stops. Teeters. Lurches. Stops. Then again. And again.
Liam Gallagher and Nicole Appleton are buying a single bottle of cider and a lonely pack of “premium” sausages. It's Sunday morning in Waitrose, on Marylebone High Street. We are giving witness to the ordinariness of life.
He looks hung over. Imagine that. He grunts monosyllabically as the cashier asks if he would like a bag. At all. Nicole, for her part, looks bored as she waits for the sausages and cider to do their thing and her day to begin.
I thought about it, tightened my grip on the camera. But given his past reputation for scuffling with photographers, I see no need to try my luck.
Another Sunday, in the same Waitrose, I saw Paul Weller buying UHT orange juice. Nothing else. Perhaps he had scooter tyres to clean. Maybe UHT orange juice, like Coke, has secret powers. Maybe not.
The Modfather. No need to add to his humiliation.
Then there was Elvis and Diane, this time in a tony department store on Bond Street.
“Don’t you dare,” she hissed. But 1/60 of a second had already passed. Eyes alight, fists by her side, knuckles clenched white with rage. Waiting for a call to action or a bodyguard to appear. I start to say something, think better of it.
I move out of range.
And another decisive moment passed.
© Copyright Michael Harding
Please note that the date for this previously published blog post has been assigned to create a sequence and not a chronology.