Hyde Park

The Hyde Park area of Leeds.

Motfu Never Forgets!

Poster with drawing of a fat elephant, standing upright, holding its belly.

The Usual Suspects

3 pieces of art on a brick wall.

Pogger, Ché and Kosy the Crackhead.
On the side of Bikology shop at Hyde Park Corner.

Viva La Revolucion

Stencil art of a bearded man in a beret, wearing a Ché Guevara t-shirt

Tucked in the entrance to Moor View, between the Chichini café and Bikology.

The War on Takeaways Continues...

Two skull and crossbone warning signs: no menus or flyers!

What if it was your world falling apart?

two wheatpaste posters of crying children, on a brick wall

The URL leads to the United Nation's World Food Programme website.

Damage Boy

A sad looking boy. Damage has been written on his shirt.

By the look of it, I'd say the word damage was added later, but it goes well enough with the look on the kid's face.

I love the way the hands are drawn like clenched fists; I remember how he feels.

Don,t You Understand?

Which part of no menus or flyers don,t you understand?

One frustrating thing about living in Leeds 6 is the bewildering number of take-away menus that get delivered to our homes. Take-away establishments outnumber the dead around here, and so fierce is the competition for student moolah that menus are dropping through our letterboxes several times a day. Pizzas, Thai, Chinese, Indian, Morrocan, and something called a chimichanga... you can have it all in Hyde Park. Many of us just take the menus for granted, but I suppose it can all be a bit too much for some.

What I like about this sign is the way that DON,T is written with a comma instead of an apostrophe. It kinda made my day, seeing that. Genius.

Orange Woman

Graffiti art - an abstract/nude woman, in orange and sienna.

Another one from Replete, by the look of it. This piece has existed since at least early November 2009, but I didn't get a good photo until today. It's done over the top of his Orange and Blue Woman.

We Support the Bin Men

a sign affixed to a wheelie bin declares: we support the bin men

The bin men have been on strike in Leeds for over two months now. Signs like this were a common sight in Hyde Park during the early weeks of the strike, but this is the only one I can find now.

The bin which says "155 HPR" is a couple of blocks from home. They move around a lot.

Here's Another Fine Jacket You've Got Me Into

Andrew poses in a bright blue tailcoat, with hot pink lapels, and a bowler hat.

Saturday was the Unity Day 2009 hospitality night - and yours truly was compère for the evening. I borrowed this marvelous tailcoat from the Ladybird's bottomless circus wardrobe. I don't know that pink and blue are my best colours, but it was fun to wear and got plenty of compliments.

The hospitality night is a chance for the Unity Day volunteers to catch up with each other, let our hair down and have a jolly good knees-up. We do it every year as our way of saying thanks to each other for helping to make Unity Day happen. Lots of us like to dress up to the nines, making a change from muddy boots and steward t-shirts.

There was music from some great local bands: anarchic dance from big-band Bassa Bassa, easy-groovin' reggae from The Roots Family UK, and the oddly named Ukelele Bitchslap, who are lovely. Many thanks to all of them for coming along to entertain us. Between bands I slipped in a recital of Three Ha'pence A Foot by Marriott Edgar, to show folk just how bad the rain could have been.

An exquisite new patchwork Unity banner was shown off by Maggie and Kerri, the new Unity Day wall calendar was passed around, and we saw video and photos from this year's main event. Plus, the home-made curry was superb.

Now the serious business of the Christmas panto can begin...