Moli and the Brick Lane street art.

My search for amazing street art got a boost today with a visit to East London and the streets that surround Brick Lane. Traditionally this was a destination area for a vast multitude of curry houses and bagels but like much of London it continues to change and develop with this area now starting to fill up with trendy hot spot like bars, antique markets, specialist chocolatiers and craft stalls. Along with this obvious gentrification comes a great collection of street art. As I mentioned in a previous blog I’ve become a real fan of this art form and walking around the rough streets of E.1 and in some cases, rubble strewn alley ways I discovered not only some great creations but loads of fellow admirers doing much the same as me.

Street Art

Normally I’d be fairly concerned about heading down some unlit dodgy passageway with an expensive smartphone or camera for fear of being bludgeoned to death, however in this case I actually had to get into line if I wanted to catch a glimpse of the latest offering. The crowds were impressive and the notion of the traditional gallery is extinct in these cases as the streets become the gallery and you never know what you might find behind the every growing crowd.

I also finally managed to catch someone creating something new.

Street Art in progress

Here are my favorites from today.

M

Street Art

Street Art

Street Art

Street Art

Street Art

Street Art - Face in the wall

Street Art

Street Art

Street Art

Street Art

Street Art

Street Art

Street Art

Street Art

Moli and the modern shopper.

As of today, once again, Waitrose tops the ‘Which’ poll for customer satisfaction along with M&S. The majority of my personal shopping is done at both these places and I have to say that I agree with the poll. Both companies have high standards of store design and exceptional own brand products, in particular for me M&S and the amazing runny scotch eggs that are annoyingly no longer ranged in my local store. (Can you believe that I actually have to order them in specially) The survey talks about the great customer experience from the shop staff themselves that on the whole I find welcoming and offer an excellent service. I however would love to see a survey from supermarket / retail shop staff themselves on the quality of customer behavior. I can’t see any measure for that but I would say that the level has dropped over the years.

Shopping

I’ve noticed that during the last 12 to 18 months the customers that visit my local stores have considerably reduced their courtesy levels to fellow shoppers and shop staff alike. Recently I visited Waitrose to take advantage of a meal deal. £20 for a three course meal and a bottle of wine. The experience reminded me of those scenes when a farmer delivers the feed to a pigs. A mass of knuckle scrapping animals pushing and shoving to grab a starter, main, sweet pudding and a bottle of plonk. I only wanted to see what was available but found myself being squeezed out of the way by the bigger apes. Now, I don’t know if this makes me any better than them but I actually crawled out from the food brawl, gathered myself and shouted to them, “Let me know when you fuckers are finished and I’ll come back, you selfish bastards” Clearly the red mist descended! I spoke to a member of Waitrose staff and he seem to confirm my animal theory. He said that when he fills the shelves with new produce, he kind of throws it onto the display and runs away. One time he was actually pushed off a ladder in the chaos.

Shopping

This got me thinking about the public and how they treat each other. I started to people watch and the majority of the time; London shoppers are really rude and aggressive towards each other. Walking down a busy city street is a bit like a rugby match with shoulders bashing into each other and not even a look back or a sorry/excuse me. I remember coming out of a Knightsbridge department store and stopping on the fairly quiet pavement. A woman was walking along the street towards me and chatting on her mobile phone. I noticed her from well over 100 meters away and I took no real notice of her as that’s not really an uncommon sight. However, as she got closer, she looked up from her walk to see me and then promptly continued to walk full body blow into me and pushing me right out of the way. Shocked by the experience I turned to see her continue walking along the street, talking on her phone as if I didn’t exist. I started to wonder if I was a ghost and should therefore expect people to walk through me without any awareness of my presence. Even my, “What the hell” comment was ignored. There’s rude and then there’s London shopper rude.

Has anyone else noticed this?

I’ve also noticed that when people need information from you like directions for example they just walk off once they get what they need. My parents always taught me to say thank you, so I could be more sensitive to those that don’t do the same. I just couldn’t imagine not saying, “thanks for that” or even “cheers for the help” But to spin on my heels and head off makes my really angry. It isn’t in my rule book and as they head off I often say, “Your welcome” It shows such an epic disregard to the person and sets the value of the individual well below that of the information they seek, such as the location of Argos or the nearest bank.

I’m sitting in Land Rover getting my car serviced right now, excellent service by the way, and I’ve just spoken to the receptionist about this blog post. She said that a bunch of kids that have just been into the dealership with their mother were offered a cold drink and a cake. However, when she walked off the kids then emptied the fridge of all the cans of drink into their pockets and took all the cakes while the mother watched. Great parenting!

Did it that all start with bad parenting? Is it a millennial thing? Can it be changed? Clearly not any time soon!

Please share your experiences in the comments section; I’d love to hear them. It’s clearly about time we had a human experience survey. Come on Which, I’m ready to cast my vote.

M

Moli & Street Art

During my travels of 2016 I’ve spent an obsessive amount of time looking around for something interesting to photograph. I started to notice that London is actually full of really great street art. Not the shitty graffiti which some brainless millenial created by writing his name all joined up for the first time in his life, that is really just a horrid visual litter but the creations done with thought and talent. I found these creative outlets down alleyways, on shutters outside shops and on walls where you wouldn’t expect it. I’m not aware of a map or guide to London street art and I’m sure if I was to look really hard I’d find one, however not knowing where these designs are located added to the joy of finding them. I’ve always loved the work and social messages created by Banksy the elusive street artist, so I guess it stands to reason that I’d be attracted to similar work.

I’m looking forward to finding more and thought I’d share some examples of what I’ve found so far.

M

E.1 & Columbia Market - 2016

Street Art

Camden Town 2016

Street Art

Super Kiss

Rude Kids

Street Art

Picture a day

Moli tweets.

So I tweeted the President of the United States the other day. Needless to say he completely ignored my suggestion to slow down the speed of his actions and start to reassure the American people. I had to double check how long he’s been in office. Was it 12, 18 or 24 months? Actually it was 2 weeks and according to FAKE new CNN, (Trumps opinion, not mine) A majority of those polled, 53%, disapprove of the way the President is handling his job.

Trump

This is the highest disapproval for a new elected president since polls began tracking those results. Trump is the only President to hold a net-negative rating this early in his tenure. CNN continues, Overall, 44% approve of the way he’s handling the job, seven points below the previous low-point of 51%. Further, the share who disapprove “strongly” of Trump’s work as president is nearly as large as the total block who approve, 43% feel intensely negative about Trump. The 90 day travel ban is clearly the most upsetting executive order for the majority of Americans and for people far beyond America but I worry that while the world screams and protests nothing is getting changed and those sick fucks ISIS are laughing at how Trump has become their chief recruiting officer.

As I write this, the travel ban has just been overturned, with Homeland security reverting to its previous rules and Trump is fuming apparently. I doubt the reverted rules will last long and having an angry Trump could lead to more drastic behavior and more heads rolling and I doubt he will let it go that easy. If he doesn’t start to listen to the people soon, this presidency will not only feel like an eternity but the world maybe changed permanently for the worst.

I didn’t want to blog about Trump again so soon but with so much turmoil in such a short time I had to say something. So, slow down Mr Trump and listen. If not to me but to the millions of people crying out for you to be better, to make America great again. I always thought it was great however. It has its issues but improving things and making life better for your people should be a legacy a nation is proud of and not ashamed. I see no advantage in being the best if the cost is creating more enemies and isolating your country and people from the wider world your nation was originally built on.

M

Moli Returns

Have you missed me?

No!

I decided to take a break from writing last year and with my photo a day project taking up plenty of my online time, I felt it best not to over do it. Now the project has finished and my final photograph, number 366 was posted, I went online dark for the whole of January and it actually felt great. I didn’t spend hours looking at silly videos. Liking something to save a sick kitten or feeling obliged to tag a mate who can eat a twenty person fry up. However, I’ve returned to Facebook today and nothing’s really changed. Except now the sick cat people are asking me to like if I hate Donald Trump.

MOLI 2016

The world as we all know is a crazy place but the first month of 2017 has been bloody bonkers. On the upside, loads of celebrities didn’t die but I’m sure a few notable absentees are spinning in their graves. In particular those that fought for freedom from a right wing dictator that hypnotized a nation into performing some of the most evil acts in human history. Trump is showing similarities I’m saddened to say but spurred on in the belief that he is protecting his citizens from radical Islamist that themselves have performed medieval and barbaric acts.  Our schools fail to teach children about Hitler’s rise to power but forgetting our past can lead us to make similar mistakes and I fear that’s what Trump has become. A great mistake given power by frightened people that will regret it when it’s too late! His action within the first two weeks of his inauguration have upset a great many people and I cannot remember any president being so hated, so quickly.

Donald Trump

Americans throughout the United States have marched to demand he change his executive orders especially his extreme vetting for 90 days. However while these people scream and shout, nothing is changing in the slightest and the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer continues to host some of the most bizarre and frankly scary/ laughable pro Trump rhetoric that leaves the worlds media scratching their heads in puzzlement and asking, “What just happened?”

Sean Spicer

Now it would appear that Trump has the most power and control of any president for years with the White House, Senate and the Supreme court all coming under his influence and be dammed anyone that goes against him. I’m guessing America and the world are just going to have to hold on tight during these bizarre times in modern politics and in the meantime LIKE the ban trump link on Facebook. These things make a difference right?

M