User:Shoebby/Special Issue 25

Week 1

Field Recording

Metadata

Location: Noordersluisweg 2, 1975 AM IJmuiden, The Netherlands
Title: TATA Steel recording 1
By: Wijnand Bredewold
On: 06.01.2023
At: 12:00 Europe/Amsterdam
Duration: 10:00min.
Attribution: CC-BY-NC-ND
Description: Recording made at TATA Steel with Tascam DR100-MKIII and low noise Primo mics. (Raw unedit audio)

Memory

A friend and I had a bubbling interest in Warhammer, the gray little plastic figurines you can paint however you like. He wanted Ultramarines, I wanted Plague Marines. Looking on Google maps we found a nearby-ish store in IJmuiden called Game Solution, and this excited us cause neither of us had ever biked to that store, let alone been to IJmuiden.
The bike ride was pleasant, through greenery for the most part, and apartment blocks became visible through the foliage. With this approaching sign of life, however, came an unfamiliar smell. It was slight, warm, and ever-present by the time we entered the town. We thought little of it, and made our way to the store.
The shop was everything we hoped for and more, they also carried retro games for systems such as the Gamecube and the Playstation 1. There was even a Gamecube system for sale, which I got for my girlfriend's birthday. While inside, curiosity got the better of me and I asked the clerk what that slight, warm, ever-present smell was all about, and she succinctly replied 'kanker'.
IJmuiden is home to a steel production plant of Tata Steel, and the surrounding area suffers a risk of lung cancer of around 50% higher than the rest of the Netherlands.
First I wondered why people even lived here, then I realized moving is expensive and that a large amount of people in IJmuiden might be working at the complex, then I biked back home to my home with complicated feelings in my brain and some carcinogens in my lungs.