Futile Gesture

Saw this a little while ago - only remembered it recently.

There is a cycle path on my route to work which runs along quite a busy road. Whilst on my way to work, I saw a cyclist nearly get wiped out by a rather large cement mixer lorry.

The cyclist, rather understandably, was less than pleased. He cycled quite quickly to catch up and then promptly spat at the cement mixer. Impressively he did manage to hit the lorry.

However as the lorry was filthy it was doubtful that the driver would even have noticed.

I do feel however that small acts of defiance should be celebrated.

Motorway Randomness

I need a better title for this blog... will have a think.

Anyway - firstly my thanks to my friend Clare for letting me borrow this photo. I've driven past this bridge on a couple of occasions but have either a) not had a camera on me or b) been the only person in the car so unable to take a photo.

Graffiti on bridges has often been a source of pondering for me (yes I am that sad). The major source of my interest is how they actually paint the slogans on the side of the bridge... do they hang over the side? In which case surely there are less dangerous ways to get your slogan out there.

The slogan itself is also a source of musing - especially when stuck in traffic which considering this is on the M25 happens quite often.

At the end of the day perhaps it's best not to know how it got there etc. Perhaps it is simply enough that it is there and brightening up the day of the motorists who pass it.

You Wait Ages For One London Bus...

Took this whilst up in London on a day out. There are actually a couple of other buses out of shot... I've seen loads of taxis altogether in New York but this is the first time I've seen this many London buses all in one place.

When Pandas Go Wrong

I had completely forgotten I had this photo until I was going through the album recently. This was taken at San Diego Zoo. This was the wall along side the panda enclosure. The whole wall was covered with various paintings of pandas clearly done by artists of various skill. This one just made me laugh as it is the most awkward looking panda ever.

The importance of context

Everyone must have been in this situation. There you are, sitting minding your own business, when someone starts a conversation with you and expects you to know exactly what they are talking about straight away - forgetting that whilst they may have been thinking about something all morning, you aren't a mind reader and as a result haven't the foggiest about what they are talking about. "Context! I need context!" has become my stock response to this.

A prime example of this happened a couple of weeks back (admittedly wasn't helped by the fact that the conversation was by text message).

So I'm sat on the train, slightly hungover and I receive the following from my Mum:

"Sat in the garden guarding the pond from a mink".

That was it. No explanation as to why there was a mink in the garden. Turns out there wasn't really a reason for it, it had just appeared but stating that in the original text would have helped with some of the confusion... Or maybe I'm just picky!!

Lost in Translation?

I've called this lost in translation but that doesn't seem entirely right seeing as I took this in San Diego where they speak English... can only assume 'mugger' doesn't mean the same on that side of the pond as it does on this as I'm not sure why you would want to name your mug shop after a person who robs you in the street.

International Randomness

I was in Toronto recently (does a couple of months count as recent?) and saw this. The grey bit is one of those things that normally hold useful information about the statue or whatever you are looking at. This one had been left blank and someone had helpfully added "This is a tree". My favourite piece of Toronto graffiti.