Mastercard

MASTERCARD

Big Buzzwords, little love for MASTERCARD. Ironically, dutch card machines aren’t ‘all-inclusive’.

It starts with a trip to the bakery. Known for the best cookies around (I can vouch for this), I opt for an all-inclusive white nut, oatmeal & chocolate chip. My card is declined because, as I will soon learn, Mastercards aren’t favoured in this part of Rotterdam. I can assure you I had £’s. Self-checking machines sing tea for two amongst diminished notes, and herein lies an adventure based on finding an ATM, all for the sake of taking out cash, all for the sake of buying milk, for these ‘great’ cookies. I knew I should have asked for per diems upfront.

We reprise our motif from our first song but this time our song has more soul because we have lived longer in this land. The machine beeps and I can’t help but hear it speak to the politic of acceptance, prodding at my pessimism. They didn’t accept visa cards, and the beeps keep beeping! The low synth acts as the continuous breath which kept me alive even if I often pay little attention to its value. That breath, a hum. That hum is a vibration. That vibration, a gesture of dancing air. As if walking wasn’t enough, it appears that this song questions me about what I intend to include and what I will be committed to change. Walk. Sometimes through traffic lights.

Notes on inclusion & change