Big cat
(Graffiti leopard at Chalk Farm: London, UK)
Each time I have passed Chalk Farm station, I have been struck by the size of this beast painted on the wall. You can see it on the approach to the tube station or on the way to Primrose Hill where I spent a portion of yesterday afternoon. The two girls walking by give an indication of scale. I’m sure I recall seeing a Banksy* on the same wall – it was a stencil work of a French maid sweeping rubbish under the wall. No doubt like so many other pieces, it has been carved out of the very bricks and sold.
My friend Mark and I were across the junction at a restaurant called Marine Ices the other night. We treated ourselves to dinner as we were both feeling the strain of long days and unwholesome meals. The restaurant was nothing remarkable, except that the establishment has been there for nearly a century as an Italian gelateria and then restaurant. Now it encompasses both, so we finished our lip-smackingly good pasta with two flavours of ice cream. In addition to various charms, the restaurant has an array of framed, signed memos on the walls from various celebrities and arguably people of note; Rolf Harris, Avid Merrion, Bob Hoskins and so on. It was an entertaining spot and one which I hope to be a repeat customer.
*Stencil artwork by a famous anonymous graffiti artist worth millions.
– Today Rosie is drawing after returning from a night visiting her cousin in Farnborough, UK –
