Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Bondage, Cannabis and Vladimir Putin


As you can see, our part of the world is slowly getting sunnier. The light is warmer and brighter, the shadows more striking.

You'll be glad to know my phone seems to be working fine after its creek-dunking and subsequent dry rice immersion. I'm not sure whether the rice made a difference or if it would have dried out on its own anyway. Guess there's no way to tell. I haven't used it for an extended period of time yet, but the basic apps seem to open and do what they need to do, even iTunes.

Speaking of iPhones, how about another round of random phone pictures from my walks around town?


I found this sticker on a street sign on Abbey Road. Tegamitype is a typography studio in Indonesia. I don't find anything as groovy as this design on their web site. Maybe it's an old sticker.


This was in the window of a closed hairdresser's salon in Childs Hill. It looks like a homemade bondage device. Maybe they put wigs on this head to style them? Alarming!


"Stoney Patch" is cannabis gummy candy. As the package says, "Sour & Sweet, then Stoned." These have made a splash in the news, with a copyright infringement lawsuit and bad reactions from kids who eat them thinking they're conventional sweets. One parent said of an incident at a London school, "A bunch of year 9s took some cannabis edibles and passed out, and there was a lot of throwing up at lunchtime."

I guess gummy candy doesn't exactly encourage moderation.


This is a kickboxing studio in South Hampstead called "Gav the Champ." I took a photo of its sign because I have a friend named Gav and I thought he'd be amused.


I'm glad the user of this wheelie bin has been verified.


Free videotapes set out with someone's trash. Anybody want the entire back catalog of "Friends"? (No, I did not rescue them.)


This image of Vladimir Putin was staring out at me from someone's recycling bag. Turns out it's a cardboard chocolate package from Russia featuring an image of Putin crying, based on a painting by Alexei Sergienko. "Kind-hearted man," the web site says. OK, then.

And finally...

15 comments:

  1. "Bondage, Cannabis and Vladimir Putin." And not necessarily in that order. I'd probably get stoned first in either case. As for the Stoney Patch candies, that's got to be one of the most ignorant and irresponsible ideas I've seen in a long time.

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  2. "Bondage, Cannabis and Vladimir Putin" has got to be one of your best blogpost titles ever. It suggests a racy novel in which - during a late night party in a top Moscow hotel, Vladimir Putin produces a wallet of pre-rolled joints. He is wearing leather hot pants and a brass-studded leather bondage helmet. He passes the joints around and everyone begins to get stoned then Mr Putin produces a bull whip which he cracks while dancing solo to "The Legend of Xanadu" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich.

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  3. So glad about your phone! I guess rice does work.
    That wig stand is horribly disturbing. I do not approve, whatever it is.
    Truthfully, any one of these shots could be a very good writing prompt, don't you think? A thousand stories in every picture.

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  4. Yes to the last one.

    That wig thingy looks like some sort of alien egg giving birth to a human head.
    And THAT is how my headworks!

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  5. Lord, can only imagine the visits your site will get with that title!

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  6. Well, that blog title did get my attention, Steve! Shame on the gummy candy that kids might eat. What are people thinking?!

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  7. "Kind hearted Man" made me laugh out loud. Of all the things that could be said about Putin, that one would never come up. That helmet-like head covering is very strange indeed. Great collection of street finds!

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  8. You do find some interesting things there. Vladimir Putin "kind-hearted man"-- now that's crazy.

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  9. is Putin crying because he doesn't like chocolate? that manikin head is bizarre. and I'm not sure who was more irresponsible, the maker of the stoney patch gummies or the parent who allowed their kid access. and is pot legal in the UK?

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  10. The rice drying is most certainly effective. The kids have used it more than once, saved some money and grief. Glad you phone was not drowned beyond repair, it's phots are great!
    The head looks to me like some weird "no mask protest". Yes, that is still a thing. Dumb asses!

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  11. I always love your iPhone dumps. I could use some gummi cannabis about now...

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  12. Great title! Pictures are what drive interesting posts, in my opinion. A dumb question, but have you tried to call anyone with your iPhone? Hopefully that will work and not be crackly.

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  13. I absolutely LOVED the title of your post!

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