Hope.

Geography As life mimics art, so parts of Birkenhead now look like something from a Tarkovsky film. The BBC's Inside Out North West visits Charlie Wright whose house, which used to be part of Birkenhead's River Streets now stands alone in a scorched wasteland after the estate was cleared to make way for a factory and housing complex which subsequently didn't materialise. Alone in a wilderness with only Tyre company as his neighbours, he fights off offers from the local council to buy the house in which he was born.

He's been in this predicament for some time. There's an article in 2006 which covers similar ground and includes a quote from the local council about offering to buy the house and warning of a compulsory purchase order but then admitting that there was currently no plans for a development. The BBC piece offers some hope for transformation of the area by Wirral Waters which suggests Wright would be aloud to stay, which isn't without precedent, I think, though that's usually when there's a listed building.

Just last week, Gerry Cordon on That's How The Light Gets in mentioned the house featuring as part of a tour of the local area given by writer Colin Dilmot in conjunction with the current exhibition at The Bluecoat (Chambers), Soft Estate: Edward Chell. Gerry Cordon's post is filled with apocalyptic images of the urban landscape some of which do indeed look like stills from Tarkovsky's Stalker, The Sacrifice or Nostalgia, with only patches of yellowing grass in between the concrete offering any hope.