This picture shows me standing on the balcony of the block of flats where I used to live: Douglas House, Coventry. It was part of a notorious estate of high-rise flats in an inner-city area called Hillfields and most people thought I was crazy to move there. And by the time I left, 'I told you so' sentiments were writ large, as the crack dealers had taken over.

This building is practically the only one still standing, the rest have been demolished. Ostensibly, it is because the flats were too expensive for the owners to run, but now I gather it was because the Powers that Be wanted to build a new college in their place.

When I first moved into Hillfields, there were task forces of do-gooders who were trying to forge a better sense of community, bring jobs to the area, etc, etc. By the time I left, all this had been forgotten about and it was obvious that the powers-that-be had decided to allow the place to rot.

I moved in partly because the Ballardesquely lurid reputation of the area did attract, have to say (though there wasn't yet any crack dealing), and I knew there was a community of artists living there. And for a time, there was indeed a good community of artists. From an artistic point of view again I liked both the quality of the light in the flat and being a litle above ground level and that is what I like about the flat I am living in now by the bye, which is similar to where I lived before. I had thought the dreams about moving back into Douglas House would stop after buying this place, but they did not, as dreams about wandering through the estate and not quite recognising the landmarks continued. As I would not, now. It isn't there any more.

Yeah, Progress...