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ventaFor some years, the M40 has sported one of my favourite locations for graffiti. I'm not sure when I first noticed it - travelling on the coach from Oxford to London, or when I started driving, I imagine - but there it was, plastered across a fence just before the junction with the M25.
It's a pannelled fence and in childish writing, one letter per panel, it read "Why do I do this every day?". Further along, in block capitals, was possibly my all-time favourite graffito "EAT MORE PEAS!". I don't actually like peas, but something about being given dietary advice by a motorway fence appealed to me. Later someone added in glossy, white letters "Jesus, Prince of Strife".
Then a few years ago, it all changed. The question was replaced with the insistent "Why do I still do this every day?", in the same childish writing on a grass-green background. It obliterated the peas, and ate into the edge of Jesus.
For a long time, I thought it was sad. The persistent plea of a tired commuter, sick to death of the M40 but tied to a job that required it. Then I realised that actually, there must be thousands of such weary commuters, and only one with the time, energy and resources to lug a large quantity of paint up a hill and trumpet his (or her) dissatisfaction with the status quo. Maybe others had thought about it, but none had actually done it. The determination in itself transforms them from the humdrum commuter they claim to be.
The other week, though, it was all change again. A new slogan adorns the fence. In giant, bulgy 3D capitals it now reads "NEW TEAM SUPREME". I'm sure a different hand has been at work; maybe they're just announcing their claim of the fence. I look forward to developments.
It's a pannelled fence and in childish writing, one letter per panel, it read "Why do I do this every day?". Further along, in block capitals, was possibly my all-time favourite graffito "EAT MORE PEAS!". I don't actually like peas, but something about being given dietary advice by a motorway fence appealed to me. Later someone added in glossy, white letters "Jesus, Prince of Strife".
Then a few years ago, it all changed. The question was replaced with the insistent "Why do I still do this every day?", in the same childish writing on a grass-green background. It obliterated the peas, and ate into the edge of Jesus.
For a long time, I thought it was sad. The persistent plea of a tired commuter, sick to death of the M40 but tied to a job that required it. Then I realised that actually, there must be thousands of such weary commuters, and only one with the time, energy and resources to lug a large quantity of paint up a hill and trumpet his (or her) dissatisfaction with the status quo. Maybe others had thought about it, but none had actually done it. The determination in itself transforms them from the humdrum commuter they claim to be.
The other week, though, it was all change again. A new slogan adorns the fence. In giant, bulgy 3D capitals it now reads "NEW TEAM SUPREME". I'm sure a different hand has been at work; maybe they're just announcing their claim of the fence. I look forward to developments.
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Date: 2007-10-12 11:09 am (UTC)