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Interpret history in every line and scar that's painted
I like graffiti.
This may be no surprise, as some people probably know I'm a contributor to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
grahamb's photos-of-stencils collection. But I'm also a compulsive reader of toilet walls. Or any walls. Or, indeed, anything written anywhere.
Walking through Oxford one Saturday morning a few weeks ago, I noticed some fine examples of rogue, er, art for want of a better word.
Walking towards Magdalen Bridge, I noticed that some kind soul had serialised the story of The Hungry Caterpillar along the concrete pillars which support the Waynflete Building (above Bottoms Up). Each pillar had a small, cream sticker on it, around five feet up, on which was written some more of the text from the story.
Once I'd reached Magdalen Bridge, I noticed something odd down in Angel & Greyhound meadow. Written in long strips of toilet roll, in letters a few feet high, was "I LOVE YOU", and another word (presumably a name) which had become too disarranged to read.
I approve of this kind of thing. Do more of it, will you ?
I've long treasured the ladies' in the Kings Arms as a source of entertaining, peculiar and pretentious graffiti. However, there seems to be a new arrival on the scene - the ladies' in The Cellar.
The walls are painted a rather harsh blue - despite the thickness of the new paint, one of my pet graffiti ("Jeffrey Lightning Lewis Rocks!") is still just visible from before the current batch of decorating.
Since I was in there last, however, someone with a blue biro has added surely the politest bit of political graffiti I've ever seen. "Beware racism" it warns, adding vehemently "try to convince BNP voters otherwise". Below, another writer with a blue biro exhorts us to "use logic" and "don't let them win". While I can't fault the sentiment, the writers' rhetoric could use a little polish.
Various people with black markers (or possibly the same black marker) have scrawled assorted bits of twopenny feel-good philosophy, advising me not to let my life slip by, and that I will only have one life. One writer, in neat block capitals, also informs me that "Kilroy is a wanker".
Someone with a black eyeliner clearly found this all a bit much, and has added in blobby letters "philosophy will clip an angels wings".
The best bit, however was the neat, blue writing at eye level, which maintained "Not all of Mesh all die". This foxed me totally. Was this a very moderate Mesh-hater, who could only bring themselves to wish a painful death on a couple of them ? A reluctant fan, who could only concede to wishing the continue existence of the singer ? More strangely, the quote seemed to be attributed to Q. Horatius Flaccus.
Now, far be it from me to judge people by their names, but he sounds like the sort of dude who should have been around some centuries ago, and probably wouldn't have had opinions on Mesh.
Giving it up for incomprehensible, I moved to the graffito above it - scratched into the paint, it said "non omnis moriar". Suddenly it all made sense. "Not all of me shall die". Ahem.
This is all the left-most cubicle, by the way. Investigation into the next one along revealed only disappointing lines along the line of Siobhan having been there, and comments on the looks of the barman.
And, having been to Intrusion last night, what have they done to the Cellar ? Is it trying to go upmarket ? New decor. Weird art (at least,liriselei and I thought it might be art, it might also just have been a broken light). And that silly dance floor that was added months back - good for falling off/over, and bad if you're tall. I'm OK, but someone like Pawl only ends up with about 2" clearance above his head when dancing.
On the plus side, though, they've started serving vodka mudshakes. Not that that was lot of use when I had my car with me, but worth bearing in mind for the future.
This may be no surprise, as some people probably know I'm a contributor to
grahamb's photos-of-stencils collection. But I'm also a compulsive reader of toilet walls. Or any walls. Or, indeed, anything written anywhere.Walking through Oxford one Saturday morning a few weeks ago, I noticed some fine examples of rogue, er, art for want of a better word.
Walking towards Magdalen Bridge, I noticed that some kind soul had serialised the story of The Hungry Caterpillar along the concrete pillars which support the Waynflete Building (above Bottoms Up). Each pillar had a small, cream sticker on it, around five feet up, on which was written some more of the text from the story.
Once I'd reached Magdalen Bridge, I noticed something odd down in Angel & Greyhound meadow. Written in long strips of toilet roll, in letters a few feet high, was "I LOVE YOU", and another word (presumably a name) which had become too disarranged to read.
I approve of this kind of thing. Do more of it, will you ?
I've long treasured the ladies' in the Kings Arms as a source of entertaining, peculiar and pretentious graffiti. However, there seems to be a new arrival on the scene - the ladies' in The Cellar.
The walls are painted a rather harsh blue - despite the thickness of the new paint, one of my pet graffiti ("Jeffrey Lightning Lewis Rocks!") is still just visible from before the current batch of decorating.
Since I was in there last, however, someone with a blue biro has added surely the politest bit of political graffiti I've ever seen. "Beware racism" it warns, adding vehemently "try to convince BNP voters otherwise". Below, another writer with a blue biro exhorts us to "use logic" and "don't let them win". While I can't fault the sentiment, the writers' rhetoric could use a little polish.
Various people with black markers (or possibly the same black marker) have scrawled assorted bits of twopenny feel-good philosophy, advising me not to let my life slip by, and that I will only have one life. One writer, in neat block capitals, also informs me that "Kilroy is a wanker".
Someone with a black eyeliner clearly found this all a bit much, and has added in blobby letters "philosophy will clip an angels wings".
The best bit, however was the neat, blue writing at eye level, which maintained "Not all of Mesh all die". This foxed me totally. Was this a very moderate Mesh-hater, who could only bring themselves to wish a painful death on a couple of them ? A reluctant fan, who could only concede to wishing the continue existence of the singer ? More strangely, the quote seemed to be attributed to Q. Horatius Flaccus.
Now, far be it from me to judge people by their names, but he sounds like the sort of dude who should have been around some centuries ago, and probably wouldn't have had opinions on Mesh.
Giving it up for incomprehensible, I moved to the graffito above it - scratched into the paint, it said "non omnis moriar". Suddenly it all made sense. "Not all of me shall die". Ahem.
This is all the left-most cubicle, by the way. Investigation into the next one along revealed only disappointing lines along the line of Siobhan having been there, and comments on the looks of the barman.
And, having been to Intrusion last night, what have they done to the Cellar ? Is it trying to go upmarket ? New decor. Weird art (at least,
liriselei and I thought it might be art, it might also just have been a broken light). And that silly dance floor that was added months back - good for falling off/over, and bad if you're tall. I'm OK, but someone like Pawl only ends up with about 2" clearance above his head when dancing.On the plus side, though, they've started serving vodka mudshakes. Not that that was lot of use when I had my car with me, but worth bearing in mind for the future.
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Dammit, will get this comment right on third post!
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Make sure you're there in November. Assuming
driving away the punterscelebrating our growing fame on the decks.no subject
Out of interest, where's the 'of me' ? Is it just one of them 'understood' things ?
(I have GCSE Latin, which is to say I can hold a page of Tacitus correct way up best out of three, so don't scare me with too much technical detail :)
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Thanks. Plus one bonus point for saying 'mellifluous', which is a lovely and underused word.
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I know ours did - they covered a whole wall with sugar paper and positively encouraged us to write Latin graffiti for a week when learning about Roman elections, then judged the various insults and witticisms at the end of the week as an opinion poll on the candidates ;)
Of course, this meant there were a *lot* of repetitions of 'Caecilius est stultus quam asinus' and other such things, which aren't really witty. I blame them for giving it to us as a project at 12. By 15/16 we would likely have managed to borrow the A-level texts, get hold of Catullus, plagiarise, and write *far* ruder things about Caecilius and donkeys!
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Bingo in Latin (with roman numerals), for example - good way of learning your numbers, and how often would you get to yell 'Fortuna me favet!' at the top of your voice mid-lesson otherwise?
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So you'd learn the entire GCSE vocab list in about... er... two lessons.
muttermutter mickeymouseexam mutter
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I can think of worse things to lambast Seneca over. If I'd been his mother, I wouldn't have been so much comforted, as pleased to be shot of such an arrogant tosser.
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positively encouraged us to write Latin graffiti for a week
So did they get a lot of:
'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'?
etc?
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Mine was an incredibly tedious woman - she knew her stuff all right, but her lessons were about as interesting as a trip to the dentist, and far less fun.
Fortunately I managed to do the Standard Grade syllabus in one hour a week (I was taking it as extra, so there was no space for it in normal school hours), so I didn't see that much of her.
Ah, those happy days where every week one of us (there was another girl doing the same thing) would do the work, and the other would copy...
Looking back, I can't help wondering how the hell I got a 2 :)
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"try to convince BNP voters otherwise"
"use logic"
"[don't] let them win"
Reads like a reminder list, or possibly a cue-card for a speech or debate.
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Also sorted my reported speech problem out with the not.
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