Turner’s Dichotomous Truth

The walk along the Thames river path in London from Rotherhithe Street, stretching two miles westward towards Tower Bridge, defines the kind of urban palimpsest typical of the city. Its restored waterside warehouses, each duly concierged and key-fobbed, deliver the not-so-secret comforts of gentrification; its council houses – sitting directly opposite – restore the collective conscience of richer tenants with just the right amount of grit.