Things I've seen today

Having a day off to sort UK essentials like NI numbers etc. (these things take time in the UK!) and have seen a couple of things that I feel obliged to share with you.

It started with Fahrenheit 911, I'm watching this in dribs and drabs at the moment, and whenever I load it up I always like to hear George W. say "If I hit every shot good, people would say I wasn't working!" which doesn't mean shit, but amuses the heck out of me for some reason.

Surfing the Internet a bit later, I'm directed to The Last Great Snail Chase, which I'm totally hanging out to experience more of.  It is great to see folk you know go and and achieve things they are dedicated to and I can't wait to see the final product.  Bring it out on DVD asap Ed! (thanks to ~m for the linky)

The next thing was a follow up note on the communal main door to the building our flat is in.  The first followed a burglary in another flat, where a drifter had gained entry to the building and had posed as a resident and subsequently been let into a flat.  He then bolted with a bunch of stuff from the flat.  Kind of a ballsy robbery really and goes to show that you shouldn't open your door round here to just anybody - a debate which I'd only recently.  I'm all for thinking that this is a pretty safe area - delusional really.  But fuck it, I'm not gonna get scared and paranoid about it just yet. 

Anyway post the robbery there was a note taped to the door bemoaning the fact that the drifter had been let in to the building and had the tone of "I know what you look like..." and I'm gonna get you!  Well sort of.

And - then today, off on my way to work I saw another note along the lines of:

"To the bastard who signed for the courier parcel as me, I hope the cellphone is defective and when you use it it blows off your head you treacherous cunt!"

I've no idea if it was written by the same 'victim' but I immediately assumed it was and, quite out of character, I found myself laughing my arse off at the whole situation.  I don't normally go for laughing at other people's misfortune, but man that note made my day as I headed off to enjoy the UK bureaucratic process.

I've a feeling 'Ron the Body' is a little to blame, that particular four letter word is bandied about almost as often as 'the' and I need very little encouragement to turn my talk to the gutter!  But it is mostly my fault, in fact I've been caught out twice recently absently saying the c word in the company of people who appeared quite shocked to have to listen to it...  It's only a word right?  Hmmmn.  Anyway, that note's sign off did make me laugh!

And the walk to the NI office had two other notable sights.  The first was one of those yellow boards outlining some unsolved crime and appealing for information.  This time the robbery of a moped at 4.30pm on the 6th of April.  I hate to imagine the circumstances of the robbery, those yellow boards are NEVER used when 'no one got hurt' type robberies go unsolved round here...  Cue bad feelings for earlier laughing at people's misfortune, and more work to make me delusional that this area is 'safe'!

To top it off, just past the Geffrey Museum, I see an ambulance parked up and a fairly worried looking paramedic deciding which type of stretcher to use.  I walk past with DJ Shadow playing in my ears and see into a steep staircase in the doorway leading to an upstairs flat, and at the bottom, another worried looking paramedic tending and to a sprawled very plainly broken male figure.  I notice a worried looking man in suit talking on his cell phone with bloodied hands.  A flatmate?  I'm not sure, but like the most of London passing by this scene, it is none of my problem and it's apparently under control and I walk past.

And NI number, and not too much bureaucracy.  Though I'm tested to sign my name like the one on my passport a signature I produced 7 years ago.  Unsurprisingly, given my lack-o-handwriting, I fail and now I hope that I won't be DENIED on the NI number front.

And I walk back home with the sun shining and I go past the stairwell again.  The ambulance and broken man are gone, it is now cordoned off with police tape, and there is a cop taking notes from some folk.  The music is till in my ears and I'm not compelled to stop or enquire.  But I can't help noticing the white blood stained sheets at the foot of the stairs and I wonder what the yellow board will say.