Deke's Diner: Noel

I was talking to Fiachra about our docklands project and we agreed that it was high time to get back in there and start shooting. Fiachra wants to try for something more focussed, some place we can return to, to conduct interviews, etc. I first thought of the Seaman's Mission near Alexandra Port, but when I checked I was told that it doesn't open till 1.30, which was no good as this week I only had a window of a couple of hours between around 11 and 1.00. So I suggested Deke's Diner, the prefab on the East Link roundabout where truckers pull in for coffee and a bite to eat. I'd been introduced to Deke last year by Kenneth, one of the stevedores I photographed.

When we arrived there it was quiet, nobody but Deke. I told him about our project and he was okay with us talking to the customers, and himself. He's been running the place for fourteen years. Then he introduced us to a man who walked in, Noel, who fumigates the crates that come off the ships. This is exactly what we were looking for, different perspectives and stories from people in very different jobs in the docklands. We began to film and Noel was perfectly at ease, telling us about how they used to use cyanide in the old days, the difference between brown and black rats (the latter like heights and are much larger) and the reason there is a 'plate' (that round object through which ships' ropes are threaded when they're in port): to prevent rats from using the rope as a gangplank. Of course, though it would never have occurred to me.

We kept the camera rolling when another man walked in and the conversation gradually strayed into other topics: football, and eventually old TV shows, The Virginian, The Fugitive, Run For Your Life...