The Feltham Circles.

Last Monday when we were in Feltham, I couldn't resist a trip to the 'Feltham Circles';

Behind Hanworth Crematorium, you can find the circles by taking one of the paths off Pevensey Road or Hounslow Road.

Years ago these were part of a sewage farm but when it was converted to a nature reserve the concrete outline was left behind and became a place where for thirty years graffiti was tolerated.

Now you can see things like this;

It's a magnet for some of the best graffiti artists in London, the only problem is that the art changes on a daily basis.

So, in the week since I took these pictures, many of these pictures have probably gone.

I was hoping to see a piece by 'Weareskyhigh', which I know went up in July - it's not there any more!

But you can see this;

And we saw this work when we were at Wokingham a fortnight ago;

This was cool;

So was this 'No Frills' piece;

Loved the figure;

It's an amazing place - a constantly moving canvas.

Sometimes it can be infuriating; like when some dumb kid sprays the stoopidest, easiest, pointless tag over something great.

But that's street art.

Sometimes it's a big picture;

Sometimes, if you look carefully, you can see that it's more than the big picture....there's some really interesting detail.

Here that graffiti contained a view of the whole city too;

I liked this;

And this was just the best (for me);

So good I had to post it twice;

While we were there, there was a small audience of dog walkers and passer byes. A couple of artists were working on one of the walls;

I'd like to have stayed to take pictures through the whole process but I wasn't well enough and we had other stuff to do.

I'd also like to have come back in a day or two to get the finished work - but by then it may be gone.....

The circles are a real tourist attraction - free and constantly changing. It's one of very few places where  people can make this style of art without fear of arrest or harassment.

We need to safeguard it and fight for some other walls too.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Graffiti at Wokingham.

We'd been to Wokingham and saw some really great street art......then we couldn't find it again.

So, after grinding my teeth for a few days, we went back and found where it had been.

Except it had all gone - in a weekend.

This is what we found;

Don't get me wrong, it's good.

These are 'tags' - the artists street names and they mark out their territory.

They are really fine examples, lots of different styles, not your everyday names scrawled in aerosol.

And, taken as a whole it's a fine display.

It just went on and on and if we hadn't seen what was up there before it would have been really impressive.

OK, it's really impressive.

No, I accept it's very, very good.

But what you aren't seeing are the amazing pieces that were there before. There was some satire, an attack on George Osborne, there was Darth Vader and C-3PO.

But, as I've already said, the nature of street art is that it's ephemeral.

It changes all the time, no one 'owns' the streets.

The only thing that quality wins is a little bit of time and the pieces we came to see had run out of it by the time we went back.

I liked this;

There were a few clues to what we'd missed;

This (I think) was part of the Star Wars piece;

Robyn and I both really liked this one sprayed on a cabinet;

This was the best of the lot;

So good I had to post it twice;

You can catch this at Wokingham, just past the Tesco and near the swimming pool and bowling alley. There is a car park just behind it but probably the easiest way is to walk down from the High Street.

And, I've got some clues about the artists, so you may see some more!

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Wokingham; here today and gone tomorrow.

We went to Wokingham twice but I'm not sure why we went there in the first place.

Anyway Robyn liked it and while we were there we saw some fantastic street art - which I like a lot.

We wandered around, looked at shops and had a coffee.

These pillars have been painted to brighten up a 1970's shopping development and some of them are quite good;

I liked this;

Anyway, we couldn't find the amazing street art on the way back - it's a town which has been carved up by a railway running through it and a series of one way streets that seem always blocked with traffic. We just couldn't find it and in the end I got tired.

When we came back we saw this door way to a community centre and shop;

This sign in the shop window was nice;

But, strangely, we always seemed to just miss out in Wokingham.

The community shop had just shut when we got there.

We saw some nice wood in a skip and we were going to pick it up on the way back to the car.......only to find the skip had gone in those few moments.

Gggggrrrh!

And the art work? In a matter of days that had all been covered up and new graffiti went up in its place. We couldn't believe it but that is the nature of street art - whether it's some kids tagging or it's Banksy......wait too long and it's gone.

I'll show you what was in it's place tomorrow.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Belleville, Paris.

Belleville

What normally happens to me in Paris is that I end up having a series of arguments with waiters who don’t want to serve me and then I don’t get to eat. Given that I don’t have much French this is impressive and often quite creative. I’m not an attractive prospect to a Bistro – single, old and looking a little careworn/frayed at the edges and they usually make this clear to me. In turn I know how to return an insult.

This time it was all going to be different.

I took my aches and my blistered feet to Belleville in the 20^th Arrondissement.

If you think of any of the French revolutions – they all started here. If you think of any of the revolutions that failed – Belleville is where the French army went to execute the revolutionaries.

Belleville is where the Communards made their last heroic stand at the Barricades of 1871 and Pére Lachaise at the bottom of the hill was where the firing squads were. There are good ghosts here; my kind of people.

Belleville is where the workers live and it’s where Édith Piaf was born under a lamp post on the Rue de Belleville. The way she sang – the hard nasal throaty sound; that’s the old accent of the Bellevillois, the equivalent of London’s cockneys. Little Édith Gassion at 4 ft. 8inches tall was given the nickname of ‘sparrow’ which is where the Piaf comes from.

The nature of the district has changed over the years – fewer French and more immigrants but the spirit is the same. There is always rebellion in the air.

Come out of the Metro and it all hits you straight away; poverty and trouble, the prostitutes, the pimps (Oh how I hate a pimp), and in the background shadows are lurking the gangsters that the pimps have to pay off.

And never to be seen in Belleville? Le Flic; the hated police who take a tax from everyone.

The police are so hated in Paris that it is accepted that when someone is in distress or suicidal no one calls the police – the fire brigade come out and they deal with many more social problems than fires as a result.

The fuel that keeps this economy going? Drugs and it would be so easy to just close down this whole sordid thing if anyone wanted to.

So, when I’ve negotiated all that I take a look at the new Chinatown and then walk up the hill along the Rue de Belleville. Right at the top is a park with a beautiful view over Paris but not for me today, I’ve been up enough hills.

What I really came to see was the art that is all around, because after the Algerians and the other North Africans, the Chinese and Vietnamese settlers, now there is another wave of immigrants; the street artists and they cover everything they can with the most amazing graffiti and sometimes real live artworks. I only scratched the surface….

Here’s a lorry that got a respray overnight;
 

 

 

 

These amazing pictures come from an alley way off the Rue de Belleville;

 

You'll want to click on that one to get the fine detail - you get a slideshow (spot the Piaf reference). 

 

 

Do you see the little homages to Piaf? They are everywhere. These are only some of the pictures I took. I’ve been sending them out to friends since I got back and I’ll look for excuses to post them here in the next few weeks.

By now I’m really tired, need to eat and have the little matter of an injection to sort out. Hey, this is the heroin capital of the city – it can’t be a problem.

I headed down the hill, on a hunt. What I was looking for was where all the Algerians go to drink tea – and here it is, ‘Le Myanis’ in Ménilmontant;

 

 

This was when I left but when I arrived there was a whole community of tea drinkers passing the afternoon away.

Here’s my meal;

 

It’s Couscous, the staple of North Africa. I’ve never had it before but it was delicious, filling, cheap and the staff were very patient at my ignorance and lack of French. Then again if you are from Algeria or Tunisia French is the language of the colonisers and not so popular.

I had a great meal and finished it off with a tiny coffee (arab style) but with none of the gravel at the bottom of the cup that I associate with the lebanese version.

So, full of new life, I headed down the hill to Pére Lachaise, always shut whenever I get there and then back up to turn down the Oberkamp – this is the street where Gangster meets Gangsta – it’s where all the music is.

Unfortunately I was far too early – so no music reviews today but this is where the affordable clubs and bars are and where the ‘BOBOS’ hang out. They are the ‘Bohemian Bourgeoisie’, similar to our ‘Yuppies’ but more interesting and more adventurous. They follow the artists and the music.

 

These two are great….

 

…. the artist was repairing them but ran away when I started taking pictures….

They aren’t graffiti they are paper collages, stuck on the wall.

In the end I gave up and overcome with nostalgia headed back to the tourist trap of Montmartre for my last hour. This time I had to admit defeat and pay for a ride up the funicular – what a wuss. This is just for tourists but it looks the part.

I was there for something you can’t take a picture of after dark (not with my pawn shop camera) when the Eiffel Tower is lit up and its giant searchlight turns achingly slowly like a lighthouse, round and round over Paris. Everyone is drawn to it – hypnotised as every part of the city watches it turn and turn again.

I have a Stella Artois.

Merdes! Oh, Merdes!!

I’m late! I can hardly walk now but the coach leaves at 1030! Somehow I stagger down all those damn steps, down to the metro at Pigalle where it all started for me this morning and onto the platform. On the train and change – I’ve gone wrong. Go back. Made it. That would have been an expensive day trip if I’d missed the coach.

I got back too late for the best part – when the Eiffel Tower goes sparkly at 1000pm. If you’ve never seen it, you should; tingly spine and everything.

And then we got held up – we finally left late at 11 00pm, just as the tower went sparkly again for me.

Gulp!

It didn’t help that I was playing ‘Le Départ’ and ‘Paris Match’ from The Style Council ep ‘Á Paris’ on my MP3.

Gulp!

The very best moment? Well it’s not a very good picture but how do you capture a moment of magic?
 

 

 Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

None of this could ever have happened without Gurdeep, Sharon and of course Dr Feelgood of Charing Cross Hospital to whom I am deeply grateful.

A taste of Paris.

As you can imagine, I'm a little tired. I've got a few aches and some blisters.

Normal service tomorrow. In the meantime here's some street art from the side of a ticket machine in the back streets of Belleville, Paris.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:    helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com