Maybe it’s because I’ve just returned from a week in Paris, but I didn’t feel like the Chelsea area held up with it’s reputation of the lower income area of London. Either Princess Diana and her friends did a fantastic job, or I just have really high standards for my sketchy neighborhoods. But somehow I feel it can’t have been too bad even 100 years ago, considering so many intelligent independent people choose to live there. It has been fun to see a few blue plaques as I’ve explored different parts of London, but very few areas have quite so many in concentration.
In contrast with the great men and women who lived there, as I wandered the streets today I couldn’t help but realize that there is a thriving active community that are building their own lives there everyday. Some might be the next great author or painter, but every one of them creates their own masterpiece in the interesting lives that they live and characterize it with the everyday things that they choose to do. To show a little part of that I documented the commuter times: Pedestrians, bicycle riders, bus passengers, and sardines on the tube. What we do with this “empty” time is a true defining characteristic.
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