“I really don’t want to come across as a crackpot,” Nick says. It’s a point he will make a few times, conscious that I (a journalist) have invited him (someone deeply distrustful of journalists) for a chat.
This was an encounter a few years in the making. Even before meeting Nick, I felt like I had known him through his provocative work. If you have ever travelled through, into or out of Finsbury Park station along any of the national rail lines, you are quite likely to know what I’m talking about.
Every few weeks, Nick will emerge onto balcony of his second-floor flat, facing the railway line just north of the station, and hang up a new, hand-painted 3 x 0.9 metre sign. It will always have a phrase painted on it, always nearly a metre high, always in bold, black-on-white sans-serif lettering. When it comes to his messages, Nick has a few rules. They will contain a pithy, usually three- or four-word slogan. They will usually hint at a deep distrust of authority and, to put it politely, the way information is distributed. There will be common themes: war, protest laws, surveillance, the media. Nick’s favourites, he says, are “ones that question the narratives; the acceptance of which, let’s face it, has got us into a terrible state”. Still, they will, he says, be positive in tone: the word “don’t”, for example, is banned for being too negative.
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The billboards are designed to get your attention, and it works; Nick is an architect by trade, and he knows how to work to scale. From when I first noticed the signs in late 2022, I would always keep an eye out for what the latest one said as my Great Northern train would sidle in from Enfield to N4. Who was this person sending these unusual messages out to the public in a one-way dialogue, with no idea how they might respond?
Nick’s signs are hard to miss, but one in particular caught my eye and led to us sitting here at a quiet corner of the World’s End pub. It said, simply: “CAYENNE PEPPER”. It tickled me and confused me in equal measure. What did it mean? Was there a joke I didn’t get? I dropped a letter through what I hoped was the correct front door without much expectation of a reply. But a few days later, he got in touch.
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