Sherbet
(2017)MA research film
2:55 mins, 16:9
I had been making a study of the buildings and people along Pancras Road in King’s Cross. The road runs to the south between the Eurostar terminus at St Pancras International and King’s Cross mainline station, with trains to the north east and Scotland. A frontier road between national and international transport hubs.
The road also represents a transport frontier in another way. Along one side is drop off/pick up for minicabs, but increasingly of course this means Uber. While the other side is lined with a long queue of London’s iconic black cabs, waiting for fares. Their presence has been designed into the redevelopment of the street, like a moving part of its landscape.
The title Sherbet is cockney rhyming slang for a London black cab. It is short for ‘Sherbet Dab’1, which rhymes with Cab. This film is a collection of my brief conversations with some of those drivers (who were prepared to talk to me) about their jobs and the changing times.
The road also represents a transport frontier in another way. Along one side is drop off/pick up for minicabs, but increasingly of course this means Uber. While the other side is lined with a long queue of London’s iconic black cabs, waiting for fares. Their presence has been designed into the redevelopment of the street, like a moving part of its landscape.
The title Sherbet is cockney rhyming slang for a London black cab. It is short for ‘Sherbet Dab’1, which rhymes with Cab. This film is a collection of my brief conversations with some of those drivers (who were prepared to talk to me) about their jobs and the changing times.
1A Sherbet Dab was a strange piece of confectionery consisting of a brightly coloured bag of sugary powder that you dipped your finger or a hard fruit lollipop in.