through europe

He hadn’t the time to get changed and the collar of his shirt was starting to annoy him. It was a stiff collar, almost ceremonial. Considering the total price of the shirt, that short strip of fabric must have been worth at least ten pounds. More or less the reimbursement fund for a whole day spent at ‘work’. And, to be at ‘work’, this kind of shirt was compulsory. There wasn’t a real uniform, apart from the price-tag of the clothes.

I

At the end of the 1960s young and cocky Situationists like myself talked of the  Japanese economic miracle – because then it was the Japanese miracle –as being fuelled by amphetamine. The evidence was anecdotal, but it was well known that the cheaply-made drug was a major business for the Yakuza. This particular miracle was manufacturing-based, electronics and autos figured prominently. In modern parlance, it was Fordist.

Non aveva avuto il tempo di cambiarsi e il colletto della camicia iniziava a dargli fastidio. Era un colletto di quelli rigidi, da cerimonia. Considerando il prezzo totale della camicia, quella strisciolina di amido e tessuto doveva valere almeno dieci sterline. Più o meno il rimborso spese di un intero giorno passato al ‘lavoro’. E, per stare al ‘lavoro’, quella camicia era d’obbligo. Non c’era una vera e propria divisa, se non il prezzo dell’abbigliamento.

Ho venticinque anni, e niente mi insospettisce di più di vedere miei coetanei indossare vestiti vintage. Il vintage è una categoria di abbigliamento molto diversa dal tipico ‘usato’ e, se osservata criticamente, può dirci molto sullo stato della gioventù odierna.

Politics

I can’t find a better way to talk about politics than talking about my own life and the lives of those around me.

I have just moved in with my new housemates. We are four in a house now, and it is taking us a long time to understand how to make things work. Take the fridge, for example. How are we going to share the space there?