Street art filled beer glass walk

[squirmelia]

I wanted to go to the Howard Griffin gallery, so decided to turn it into a Beer Glass Walk. (Flâneurs June Challenge II(d): Beer glass walk).



I placed a beer glass onto a map:



The weather was fine when I left my part of London, but when I reached Liverpool Street Station, which I had decided was the start of my walk, it was pouring with rain. I decided to have a soya mocha and a vegetable samosa and wait for a bit.

It was still raining after that, but not as heavily, so I stepped outside and took a few photos from underneath my umbrella before realising I was going in the wrong direction.



I turn around and took the other exit out of the station. I walk through the rain, past the pub with the glowing red "Dirty Dicks" sign, and I see the Gherkin in the distance. I pass a sign explaining that Petticoat Lane's name was changed to Middlesex street by Victorians in order to remove the reference to undergarments.

I pass two people who looked drenched but colourful, so I presumed they'd been to the Holi festival.

I go slightly the wrong way and end up at Frying Pan Alley. I should have used a better map, that actually had all the street names marked on it. Next time.

I turn back, and up Artillery Row and White's Row, and then the rain stops. I see a one way sign with an arrow through a heart:



Then, when I reach the end of White's Row, Edward Scissorhands!



I go past Fairy Gothmother, and past Eleven and a Half Fourier Street, where a bride and groom were having photos taken a few doors down. Then down Wilkes Street and then down Princelet and I wonder then if I am in the Wild West.





I pass the Modern Saree Centre, with the not so modern looking sign.

I see a lot of street art after that, as I walk down Brick Lane and then detour to see the street art down Hanbury.





















There's a sign that says, "I love you more than cheese."

I walk further on down Brick Lane, and I'm looking at some street art when a man tries to convince me to follow him. "Wolf!" he says repeatedly and some mumbled words I don't understand, and he points, and beckons to me. I follow him for about two steps, but then realise he is trying to get me to go further, so I don't follow him and tell him no, and he seems annoyed. I feel guilty that I don't follow him, but I'm a bit scared. I suspect it's just some street art of a wolf, as opposed to a real wolf.









Things seem odd after that. The mannequins all wear unicorn heads masks, zebra head masks, or they look like stoats.

There's a coffee shop, called "Wakey wakey," which has signs outside it that say things like:
"Before I die, I want to pay off my student loans."
"Before I die, I want to be in two places at the same time."

More street art:

























I look at the street art and feel overwhelmed. There are words and pictures everywhere. It's almost unbearable, how pretty it all is.

I walk up Whitby Street, and then onwards.
















I find the Howard Griffin Gallery in front of me. I had forgotten that was where I was aiming for.

In the gallery were photos by Bob Mazzer, taken on the London Underground - on trains or platforms, in the 1980s.

Bob apparently worked in a porn cinema and these photos were taken on his daily commute.

There are a number of his photos that are viewable on the gallery website: Bob Mazzer - Underground.

A shop with a dog in it, looking at me through the door:



Car park:




I walk past some tall buildings, some of which are hiding in puddles:



Then I am back at Liverpool Street station. The signs that tell you how faraway the next train is are displaying results from football matches, which seems odd.



I sometimes wish I lived there, in that version of London, amongst the words, pictures, the tall shiny buildings.

Map of approximately where I walked: Beer glass walk from Liverpool Street.