Pennies, a Tut Cup and Doll Heads

Today, another random collection of photos from the ol' iPhone.

First, this encampment was located near the railroad tracks not too far from our flat. I took this picture on Feb. 8, and whoever lived there seemed to have made themselves quite at home, stringing laundry on the trees and parking their motor scooter under a tarp.

But when Olga and I passed the same spot on our walk on Saturday, the encampment was entirely cleared -- even the rubbish. I found a bunch of pennies and 2p coins lying around, about 34 pence worth. Even an apparently homeless person finds pennies disposable. Which begs the question, WHY do our governments keep making them?! (I picked them up. I always pick up money, on principle. I'm not proud.)

This beautiful camellia was blooming in St. John's Wood. I took this picture on Feb. 5, when flowers of any kind were a sight for sore eyes.

Olga was apparently having a bad day.

This is a dry cleaning and tailoring shop around the corner. They have bins of colorful thread stacked in the windows, and there's always an incredible amount of condensation on the glass. It must be super-humid in there. Maybe it's a grow house?

I wonder what King Tut would think if he saw his name (in an incomprehensible alphabet) and visage printed on a disposable paper cup, 3,300 years in the future? It would probably be a treasure to him.

Bins out on bin day, with dramatic lighting.

I thought this was a cute advertisement for almond butter, in the St. John's Wood tube station.

While walking the dog, I'm always coming across debris to report to the council. These dead bushes were dumped beneath this tree and lay there for a couple of weeks before I finally sent in a report and had them cleared away. I guess everyone overlooked them because they weren't obviously rubbish, but they were unsightly all the same. Now there's a can of furniture oil sitting next to the tree trunk, and I'm wondering how long that will hang around.

Finally, a collection of doll heads on a student art project at work. Bratz, to be specific. The artwork appeared to be disassembled -- the heads were just piled up in a mound -- but they still seemed to make a statement, about social anonymity or overpopulation or ideals of beauty or something.