They’re painting over the cracks in the city walls, from the Civil War musket balls to the inevitable shifts from building on a flood plain and all the current traffic. It’s a conservation area, so there are complications, but, after consultation, the consensus is concentric circles in red, white and blue. It’s a reminder of past victories and good for morale, and contracts have been awarded to friends, families and significant donors. The brushes have gone astray, the paint’s in a Calais warehouse, and it’s already over budget, but while workers queue at foodbanks, directors declare a bumper bonus and paint over the cracks in the system where the truth bleeds out, covering their backs and congratulating their compadres on a job well done. Elsewhere in the conurbation, flash floods surge and walls waver as complacency cracks to the rattle and tamp of loading muskets
Oz Hardwick
Art Rupert Loydall