Thursday 24 December 2009

Beauty?



I took this picture on my walks around Arrandene open space in Mill Hill. A fine old tree in the snow, artistically decorated with a graffiti tag. Has this tree been decorated in such a way to artistically enhance the beauty of one of Mill Hill's most fantastic open spaces? Or is it just an unintelligent yobbos way of "marking" rather like cats urinating on the garden fence?

I've spent my life trying to get people to be creative and artistic. When I asked the council what they are doing about graffiti in Barnet, they gave me details of how they have "cleaning squads", how they've "targetted" graffiti artists. How they've increased the number of police and PCSO's on the beat.

Why is it so far beyond the wit of Barnet Council, Lynne Hillan, Mike Freer, the whole lot of them, to wake up to the fact that this is the result of boredom and lack of facilities for youngsters? When I was at Finchley Catholic High School, I got caught writing an obscene message about a female member of staff on the wall of the boys toilet. Sadly for me, I was caught by the teacher she was married to. As the teacher quite liked me, he arranged for me to repaint the boys toilets, at my own expense, over the half term. He agreed not to tell the headmaster, who was looking for a reason to expel me at the time.

There are plenty of old folks who have flats that could do with a lick of paint. Is it that hard to figure out a solution to this and maybe give a few youngsters a useful skill.

1 comment:

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Merry Christmas to you sir!