Poppin' D

Collecting a piece of furniture from the depths of the DLR, I am met outside a factory by a short man with cropped hair.  He is wearing a baggy blue sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms which don't match.  He also has on a pair of padded gloves.  I ask what he does in the factory.  'I work with gangs', he says.  'What do you do with them?'  I ask.  'Bust 'em', he replies.

As he takes me into the large warehouse he tells me about his grassroots work with street kids.  'We teach 'em magic... illusions', he says flourishing his hands.  He also performs street interventions.  He was born in the local flats and has been working in this field for twenty years since he was made redundant from the building trade.  I am interested and he offers me a tour of the upstairs where the community-based project takes place.  'When I started, it wasn't working', he explains, 'they'd come 'ere, make a mosaic, then go rob someone on the high street'.  He shows me photos of the kids.  Some of them have been defaced.  He tells me the difference between transition and change.

I feel chastened but decide to tell him about my own project.  'My family were so poor they couldn't afford to give me a middle name', he says before continuing, 'That's a joke - but I don't have one'.  He is, nonetheless, eager to help.  He offers the middle name that he was given on the streets as a youngster.  'It's 'cos I was the only white kid body popping on the estate', he says.

He takes off his glove to shake my hand.  I wish him luck with all his good work and head back to the DLR carrying a hatstand.