Elvis On Holiday

Cough, Cough, Sniffle, Sniffle

Overheard in my office, in relation to swine flu: "I'm worried they won't have enough [anti-viral drugs]. Cause you know how sometimes you have to take more than one course? What if they get used up?" *

Let's get some perspective (from Wired via BoingBoing):

"People freak out over 'pandemics,' even though we've got one of the worst pandemics in history, AIDS, raging through the carcass of the body-politic right now."

Also, spoke to a nice Mexican chappy for work today and if he's not bothered, why should I be?

"Personally, I think it's a little over the top," he said.

Plus there's other shit to worry about, like, you know - the Taliban, global finances, Antarctic ice melting, celebrity deaths etc.

* (While I hate it took my frustration rather than my inclination to get me to write again here for the first time in months, it's good to be back.)

Gone, but not forgotten

Do you have people in your past that you never see any more, but remember fondly?

I was friends with this girl during my first attempt at a uni degree, who said to me once: "When you're lying awake in bed at night, do you ever put your arm up in the air - like at a right angle with your body - and after a while, it doesn't even feel like your arm anymore?!"

No, I had never done that before. But after that conversation, I did. And sometimes I still do. She was great.

During my second attempt at a uni degree, I had this tutor who literally wore his heart on his sleeve. He had this little badge with a heart printed on it, and he use to pin it on his rolled up checked sleeve. He was cool.

And then there was this girl I was friends with during the job I had when I was at uni, and the first impression I had of her was me rounding a corner into her conversation with another work colleague, and she saying: "This fucking bitch is driving me up the wall!" And I knew instantly we would be friends.

Iconoclast

The problem is
You're just like all the rest,
Who run and jump and fall;
Who make bonfires
Out of twigs and lies,
And gather meat for the tribe.

But what would be my dowry?
My pretty, perfect teeth?
Or my ability to speak
In tongues?
No, I didn’t think so either.

So tell me, was it the glance?
Or the apology after bumping past
That made you want to stay?
Because I doubt it was the talk
Of revoluntionary Russia.

But really, I don’t blame you.
I’ve taken to carelessness
Myself, lately.
Just don’t make noises
As if you were a god,
If your feet are rooted
Deep in the ground.

Destination: Somewhere

What makes someone 'belong' to somewhere? I mean, apart from the obvious gear like language and culture.

What makes you feel like your part of the fabric of an environment?

I was on a train on my way home from work the other day, and this woman got on and asked me how best to get to Nottinghill Hill Gate Tube stop.

She was British, and here I was, telling her to get off at the next stop, get on this line and change at this station. Oh, and those tube trains will leave from either platform x or y.

I've just felt a little disconnected with things lately, and it made me think.

Spare some change govna?

On the tube the other day, the guard comes on over the loudspeaker and says, 'Can everyone please be aware that pickpockets are operating on this tube today...'

Okay. Will do, ta. But then, about two stops later, this automated message gets played: 'Beggars and buskers are on this train. Please do not support them by encouraging their presence.'

Truth: I'm not one for handing out pennies on the underground. But the fact that I was told not to give them money got me pissed.*

Because if we fed and housed the poor and homeless, they wouldn't be on the f**king underground asking me for money.

I'm buying the Big Issue this week.

*Update: After re-reading this post, it does appear that I may have misunderstood/taken the announcement literally - for which I feel a little stoopid. The 'beggars and buskers' are obviously the pickpockets and the 'encouraging their presence' is obviously, put your valuables somewhere safe, dipshit...

For what it's worth, I should still buy the Big Issue.

Worldwide graffiti lover 2.0

My father, for some reason, was recently vocal about how much he loathed graffiti and that basically he considered it to be the cause of all the world's problems.*

I began this blog with a blog about graffiti, because in truth, I like it. I read in a book once (which was written by a tutor I had at uni) that graffiti is nothing more than modern man's cave paintings.

So here's some that I stumbled on in a few different countries.

-West Kensington, London

-Montmarte, Paris


-Prague

-Zagreb (The yellow letters and numbers aren't graffiti, in case you were wondering. I think they were for a car space.)

*Or something like that...