This face caught my eye. It’s a detail from the painting below. And the artist was larking around nearby so I was treated to both the faces he made and the one he wears.
There may well be meaning in the painting, but it just struck me as clever and imaginative. Which could also go towards summing up the area of London where it was hanging. I saw it inside Time for Tea on Shoreditch High Street.
Nearby was a big painted message urging passersby to – Let’s Adore and Endure Each Other. Yes. Let’s.
And there was a shop selling paramilitary teapots and facial decorations for your light switches. In other words, all the essentials.
Which got me thinking: Which rules – east or west?
East London (where I’ve been wandering of late) is clearly cooler, younger, livelier, edgier, more creative and more interesting than the leafier, more sedate west end of this world city. True – you can buy wine with Stalin’s picture on the bottle. But if you were an ineffably cool jazz singer, where would you choose to live? It’s obvious. In the EAST. Probably on a boat. (With or without a bookshop attached.)
But hang on. There’s more to the world than just London. Jim Morrison sang The West is the best. Was he right? Continue reading
Blackwatertown 