Banksman

This woman didn't seem too concerned for her safety (or that of her child) as she approached this enormous bird--Londoners are tough that way, I guess.

Reversing the scale of things, Bob and I had a look at some of the graduation shows taking place on and around Brick Lane for the next two months. Unfortunately, we found today's shows quite underwhelming, although I enjoyed peering into this wee house:

We left the shows in search of coffee and tried a new (to us) place on Brick Lane--it wasn't a good sign that the place oozed hipster cred, even on its menu, with coffee extras listed under "pimp your ride" and humble drip coffees called "chav coffee." We should have known better.

Still, maybe the coffee would be good? Well, it was just alright, but what was more insulting was that in spite of the chalkboard proclaiming rather haughtily, "We also do what we can to keep our carbon emissions to a minimum, and offset the remaining output by investigating [sic] in the regeneration of the rainforest. We encourage you/ your friends/ your business to do the same," the coffee shop serves everything in paper "to-go" cups, regardless of whether you're staying or going, and only provides wooden stir sticks and individually packaged sugar. This is the end result of their advertised commitment to the environment:

On our way home, we passed this sign in the street:

Neither of us had heard the word "banksman" before (of course the very next day, I saw someone on a construction site wearing a reflective vest that said BANKSMAN on the back, directing a truck), although we guessed its meaning from the context. How this sign ended up on the pavement is a mystery, though!