Johann Schoiswohl

the last days of robin hood gardens

the garden is covered by a thin layer of snow: the blackberry bushes climb along the wooden fences and try to conquer the terrace. cats come to pay a visit. there is an old bicycle in the garden. I do a few rounds in the olympic park. after lunch, I lie down on the couch and look into the garden. I nap for half an hour.

on holy saturday, west ham united plays against southampton – an important match in the struggle against relegation. on foot, I quickly get to the olympic stadium. the old ground – upton park was cleared away for a real estate project. I buy a ticket on the black market. At 40 pound it is actually fairly inexpensive. west ham speedily pushes forward and wins 3:0. marco arnautovic scores twice. everybody is happy.

on easter sunday we take the train to eastbourne. simone and lino have come to visit me. we hike along the chalk cliffs toward brighton. the weather is stable and dry. on the beach, we pick up a few stones. I try to climb the crumbly cliffs. it is getting dark. the bus takes us to brighton and the train back to london. it takes roughly one hour to victoria station.

I cut back part of the blackberry vines with shears and find two rose bushes. I keep one of them, a wild rose. during the CL semi-final liverpool v roma, I meet my neighbour at the bow bells pub. afterwards, I also cut the rest of the blackberry vines and try to dig out all the roots. at the building-material shop on the other side of the A12, I buy 25 small bricks of the brand london bricks and build a small raised bed. I get plants from growing concerns at victoria park. rocket grows wildly in the gaps between the terrace pavers.

close to wrexham road, you can walk south along the lea valley, passing by a former gin distillery, several gas holders and new housing developments. a few scrap yards make a short detour on dusty roads necessary. my eyes wander over to the balfron tower that is surrounded by scaffolding. behind it, the tall buildings of canary wharf rise up to the sky. In between, there is robin hood gardens, part of which has already been torn down. people are still living in one block. pigeons wander through the front yards. a film crew shoots footage of the building. another person makes a few rounds with a recording device. people quickly enter the access code at the front door and disappear in the building. the rest will be demolished soon. the estate’s refurbishment was rejected by the council.

in the peak district, we start looking for robin hood’s cave. at stanage edge, several climbers sort their climbing equipment in the morning frost. the sun is shining. soon the thin ice covering the puddles melts. a few mill stones lie in the grass. apparently, they were not needed anymore. We ask two elderly hikers for directions. they tell us that they often used to stay in robin hood’s cave for the night. a few minutes later, we finally find robin hood’s cave. after crossing a flooded cave, we reach a balcony from where we have a marvellous view of the hills of the peak district."

Johann Schoiswohl, Vienna 2018

Website resident:              johannschoiswohl.at