Anyway, enough about graffiti. This post is not about graffiti, it's about official(-looking) painted stuff on streets. Cobbles are notoriously unadhesive, and councils should know better. And taxis should know better than to drive over their own personalised roadmarkings. What exactly does a roadmarking "business" mean? Is that where you park if you're on business? Or is it for a business nearby, if so, which one (or just any of them). Or is it where you can do your business, as long as you're on a leash?
The writing on the wall, street, roof, ceiling, sidewalk.
The Pharaonic Egyptians did roughly the same thing, although I REALLY DOUBT that they used street signs. & Pompeii had a TON of graffiti, both ancient & 19th / 20th century.
Graffiti is interesting. I took a train ride yesterday and, you can imagine, graffiti was plentiful. One particular example inspired a blog article that just went up at: https://endlesschain.substack.com/p/jexiste.
People who inscribe their name on the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Colosseum: why do they do that? My desk in school had graffiti dating back to 1945. I never really felt a need to make a mark that people would curl their lips at in disdain. I've achieved that without graffiti. But would taggers put up their marks, like dogs lifting their legs, if they knew no one would ever pay it the slightest attention? Wells's Eloi certainly never graffitied.
Graffiti is always a little furtive and anonymous, even if you leave your name. In public loos, they sometimes leave their phone number. In many ways graffiti is just like every other kind of advertising. Like for vacuum cleaners - an enticement; or like horses' heads in beds - a warning. Or like ancient schooldesks: simply marking the passage of time, and with that, of ourselves.
" To Graffiti Is Human ", I guess. Although some archeologists would say that it's both a blessing & a curse, at least in regard to 20th & 21st Century graffiti left by thoughtless tourists. My stepsister visited the Giza Plateau as well as Pompeii, etc. & seen it.
You may or may not remember " Kilroy Was Here ", from WW2. At least people were probably scratching their heads about Kilroy's identity.
Clearly not TAX RANK, but TAX BANKS.
Haha! So great. Again. Thank you!
Thank you Susanne!
Anyway, enough about graffiti. This post is not about graffiti, it's about official(-looking) painted stuff on streets. Cobbles are notoriously unadhesive, and councils should know better. And taxis should know better than to drive over their own personalised roadmarkings. What exactly does a roadmarking "business" mean? Is that where you park if you're on business? Or is it for a business nearby, if so, which one (or just any of them). Or is it where you can do your business, as long as you're on a leash?
A lot of these make little sense ...
Loved these photos! So London!
Thank you!
The writing on the wall, street, roof, ceiling, sidewalk.
The Pharaonic Egyptians did roughly the same thing, although I REALLY DOUBT that they used street signs. & Pompeii had a TON of graffiti, both ancient & 19th / 20th century.
I saw the graffiti in Pompeii this summer - I wasn't totally convinced it was period ...
Would you have laughed more if it had been? Never let the truth get in the way of a good graffiti.
Graffiti is interesting. I took a train ride yesterday and, you can imagine, graffiti was plentiful. One particular example inspired a blog article that just went up at: https://endlesschain.substack.com/p/jexiste.
People who inscribe their name on the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Colosseum: why do they do that? My desk in school had graffiti dating back to 1945. I never really felt a need to make a mark that people would curl their lips at in disdain. I've achieved that without graffiti. But would taggers put up their marks, like dogs lifting their legs, if they knew no one would ever pay it the slightest attention? Wells's Eloi certainly never graffitied.
Graffiti is always a little furtive and anonymous, even if you leave your name. In public loos, they sometimes leave their phone number. In many ways graffiti is just like every other kind of advertising. Like for vacuum cleaners - an enticement; or like horses' heads in beds - a warning. Or like ancient schooldesks: simply marking the passage of time, and with that, of ourselves.
" To Graffiti Is Human ", I guess. Although some archeologists would say that it's both a blessing & a curse, at least in regard to 20th & 21st Century graffiti left by thoughtless tourists. My stepsister visited the Giza Plateau as well as Pompeii, etc. & seen it.
You may or may not remember " Kilroy Was Here ", from WW2. At least people were probably scratching their heads about Kilroy's identity.
Chad. His wee head half-popping over a wall.
I RATHER SUSPECT that it was meant to resemble a foreskin, but that's my dirty little mind going places & dragging me with it !
I always thought the numbers in the loos were those of other people. As in not their own.
Now you've sparked my curiosity: did you ever ring them to find out?
"Yes?"
"Hello, I found your number in the third cubicle down on the right at King's Cross station and wondered if Alfie was doing anything tonight?"
"I think you must have the wrong number."
"No, no, it was written quite clearly in Edding felt tip."
Never crossed my mind! To ring that is. But the interesting thing is those numbers and graffiti get our attention.
In my college years, I saw things on restroom walls that would make your hair turn white then fall out. & I'm NOT easily offended.
Look both ways always to se is look to the future and to the past. Or look within and outside. Never look left and right.
I haven’t been run over yet.