Cracked screen drama and i-phone mysteries.
Unresponsive screen. Again. Trudging resignedly to the nearest phone repair shop. “£65”. “But it’s not cracked, just slow?” “Screen needs replacing”. Cross the road for second opinion. Same guy pops up behind the counter. “Same price here, £65” he grins. Energised by piss-off, trot along to a 3rd shop. Exact same phone cases cases, same sideline of same fidget-spinners, but no sign of pop-up man. A middle-aged English jack-the-lad with missing teeth entertains the queue while he tries to sell an i-phone. Story about a bar in Spain, meeting a guy who’d run out of money, with 3 days till his flight home. “3 days! No money – for beer or nothing!” He’s talking to the shop manager, but clearly aware that he’s also playing to the bored queue, desperate for entertainment. He gestures, grins, builds the drama. An energetic and micro-informed discussion breaks out in the queue about the de/merits of various i-phone models. I only got rid of my beloved Nokia brick for this thing because I need livescribe app., so I listen in wonder and bewilderment. After the helpful shop-guy explains carefully to me exactly why I do indeed need a new screen (£60), I ask the trigger-question. In one of the most ethnically diverse spaces I’ve been in this week in Worthing, guys in here hint tactfully at ‘no problems here’ and ‘people are ok to us’ (using the delicacy which migrant folks habitually feel obliged to use towards potentially affrontable white Englishers in this Tory-and-EDL-inflected town (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14001055).
Money, as usual (and of course!) is important. Housing, living costs, plus the general unpleasant crush and chaos of B’town are all reasons why Worthing is the new Brighton for respondents here – in the sense of being the place where canny folks are shifting to, getting out of Brighton. People are even moving down direct from London now. We’ve got it all here – or coming here soon. You can go to Brighton for a £15 Chinese buffet, then pay £15 for parking. Where’s the sense? Indeedy.
Sarah Edmonds. Alphbetown-Plantmobile.
Sarah Edmonds is an illustrator and designer working from Worthing’s creative hub, Colonnade House. Originally from the Welsh borders, she is a self taught artist having worked previously in arts education. Sarah produces her own collection of bright and humorous gifts, using a fusion of hand drawn and digital techniques.
In August she held an exhibition, ‘Welcome to Alphabetown’, where she displayed her work in progress project of drawing and inventing a town and its residents. Sarah is currently working on her second children’s book alongside commissions for clients such as museums, charities and arts organisations.
Visit Sarah’s website: http://www.sarahedmondsillustration.com/
Visit Sarah’s online shop: http://www.sarahedmondsmarket.etsy.com/
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sarahsarie