london photo #1

Time Out London magazine has started a competition asking people to send in unusual images of London. I’ve set myself the challenge of taking one photo a week for the next few months and here’s the first: a pavement stone on our street.

This, somewhat obscurely, tells people to clean up after their dogs. They’ve chosen a cute symbol, but unfortunately it doesn’t really do the job.

You know how you always hear that there is a lot of dog poo on the streets of Paris? This rumour was obviously started by the English to deflect the attention from their own poo-lined streets. I remember how yucky it was to see the occasional deposit on a Melbourne nature strip. Well there ain’t no nature strips here baby – it’s right on the pavement. When you see images of Londoners walking purposefully with their heads tucked down into their jackets, they’re not shielding themselves from the cold and the wind. No, they are intently staring down as they make their way through the minefield, vigilantly watching and dodging and hoping, hoping that each footfall comes out clean.