Sunday, 24 February 2008

The weird Japanese guy ...

I like to get out and about during my lunch-hours at work, as sitting in front of a PC all day is frankly soul-destroying. My office is 2 minutes walk from the Thames, so I've got myself a couple of walks I do depending on my mood. I can either:
  • Walk over London Bridge, then down to Tower Bridge and back over and back to the office.
  • Cross London Bridge and go for a wander round Southwark Cathedral.
  • Walk upto the Millenium Bridge and go and have a walk round the Tate Modern.
I went to the Tate recently to look at Richter's paintings up on the 5th floor, but had to pass Doris Salcedo's "Shibboleth"
Basically, it’s a crack in the floor that runs the entire length of the Turbine Room (Which is MASSIVE). I’ve looked at it before so wasn’t really interested in looking again (It’s a crack ....), but the weird Japanese guy taking photos of the crack did catch my eye ...

He had two bags with him, full of toys which he was carefully positioning either side of the crack. The WJG started with a tiny Batman and Robin which he carefully positioned on the right of the crack, and a green dinosaur which he had on the left ... He then moved onto adding a fire engine, with it’s ladder extended length-ways across the bridge and a group of tiny creatures queuing up to go across .. Couldn’t they see the dinosaur on the other side waiting to get them? The fools ... Anyway, the WJG drew quite a crowd whilst he was taking his photos, some nodding in an apprecative way, others wondering where he got the Batman and Robin from, and of course, no-one had to supress a laugh when he dropped Robin into the crack ... Oh no.



I did take another photo from the 5th floor of him, which on reflection looks like he's fallen from a great height, and cracked the floor on impact .. The feller to his right obviously saw him hurtling downwards, and ducked ...

I have spent a wasted afternoon googling Doris Salcedo's crack, but nothing Superhero related has been found ...
I did have to break the Oakleys out this week, as the Sun was so bright when walking down the Thames. Also decided that Tower Bridge is one of my favourite London landmarks - one day I'll do the tour of it again (Last did it with my Dad when I was about 10 ...). The Tower of London is another favourite, only wish it wasn't do damn expensive to get in! I'm lucky with the amount of London landmarks within walking distance of where I work, and seem to find something new to explore each week. Beats sitting at a desk ...






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