Observations

Observations
On the way to work, walking from Euston to MHS:
a passerby - a girl wearing a faded t-shirt bearing the faded illustration of a crown and the words 'King of Love'. For some reason I picture myself shaking her vigorously by the hand 'your Majesty', I say 'it is an honour to meet you... I am a loyal subject of the Kingdom of Love - I haven’t spent as much time in love as I would like, but I would like to thank you for making it such an excellent place.'

I wonder what it means to wear a t-shirt saying 'King of Love' - because it seems to me a new thing in a human history that words should be quite so completely transvalued. It is not a new thing to note that words depend for their meaning on their context - but it seems a distinctly 'postmodern' thing that words can be so completely traced by their context - that their location can erase them in such a way. I start to notice a kind of gradient of significance around me with words sliding downwards across the faces of slippery marketing materials.

My colleague and I pass a photographer who we regularly see resting against the railings on the Euston road, long lens cradled in one hand, coffee in the other. We stop and ask what he is doing. He responds brightly - an unashamed, practised response, I think 'waiting for Dr. Death - this is the GMC building... he's going to be walking along here - probably looking around a bit nervously...'.

We wish him luck in his hunt for Dr. Death and continue our walk to work, eager to once more join the fray in the battle of good against evil.