You will have seen the colourful community mural on the little underpass between Eversleigh Street and Moray Road. It’s a delightful cut- through (possibly a snicket), and over the months the junior Tollingtons have, when passing, come to sing songs infront of it as the characters seem so life like.
We almost expect them to follow us home!
That’s not to say it’s not a bit grubby, and – to be honest – out of date. A bit ‘touchy feely’ if you know what I mean, not quite in line with our dog-eat-dog give-me-your-pension-book-or else times. So the hunt is on with the help of the nursery school nearby (home to baby Toll) to dream up a new topic - urgent, modern and relevant to today’s youth, but without the nasty urban edge or up-itself irony of, say, Banksy. More Enid Blyton meets Lady Gaga with a touch of the Green Cross Code Man is the thought.
It’s been a struggle for Eric in Eversleigh Street to keep the graffiti off and I think you’ll agree he does a good job with the help of equipment donated by MAH Bros (our very own Grace Bros I often think). Of course ideas for a new design are flowing in the Tollington household – our old friends The Flumps are – as ever- at the top of the queue. But that does feel, you know, a bit obvious given the plans for their statue at Charter Court. There are a lot of arty types around here so what are your thoughts bohos?
Comments
An announcement (Pop Idol-style) will be made on here that night.
Other ideas are still welcome, but remember we can't go for anything too difficult we will be using community pay-back labour from Wood Green to do most of the work, but the detail (eyes etc) will be added by the framing specialists of John Jones so that should be quite realistic.
We do need to raise some money for the actual painting process (and getting rid of the old one which dates from2005). Dorcas and I will be collecting in a bucket tomorrow outside Chaps and Dames 11- 12 and then at VersaTile 1.15-2.
Peace.
I'll tell you what, though. I have a hunch about Tollington Tom. Surely it's Philistine in disguise? Girl or boy, there is something of the night about each of them. If they are not the same person, they are Castor and Pollux, the heavenly twins.
As for Taff Bach - he is no more Welsh than I am!
In short, I sometimes wonder if any of you exist at all - but I suppose that's forums for you.
I didn't say Taff Bach wasn't Welsh. I said he was no more Welsh than I am.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Move over, Marjorie!
Please don't burn my house down. We are still recovering from the shock of Filly's bits through the letter box.
TT
The consensus was a new design should be child-friendly and perhaps educational, specially as it is close to school and the kids pass it every day. There was also the feeling it would be less prone to vandalism than some gangsta street-style trendy design.
Other people have also mentioned historical themes so the concept which has been accepted tries to reflect it.
One side will be an illustrated alphabet with characters drawn from children's fiction, TV etc (or a local hero) and the other will be a 'stroud green-scape' including some of the same characters. I suppose, to Miscarra's point, this could be 3-D and would be striking.
So far the alphabet side is as follows (work in progress, other ideas still welcome until end of Feb)
A Andy Pandy
B Bob the Builder
C Clangers (Capt Pugwash also mentioned but considered sexist)
D Dangermouse (Donald Duck also mentioned, but copyrright issues_
E Edna (from the Incredibles film(
F Flumps (agreed by all, given N4 connection)
G Grub (as in Pugh Pugh Barley McGrew Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub)
H Hair bear bunch (but does anyone remember them?). Harry Potter (bit obvious we thought)
I Iggle Piggle
J Jetsons
K Kermit
L Little Mo or Lady Penelope
M Mr Ben (Mister Men and Micky Mouse also mentioned)
N Noddy (Noggin the Nog also mentioned but considered racist)
O Orville (with or without cuddles)
P Postman Pat (power rangers also mentioned)
Q Questas (hardly anyone had heard of this though)
R Rastamouse
S Scoobydoo/Scrappy Do (could be good combo)
T Tomblyboos (I don' tknow the spelling and I don't really want to)
U Upsidaisy
V Vitor
W Windy Miller
X X-Men
Y Yogi bear (possibly plus Boo Boo)
Z Zeberdee
I hope the X-Men are represented by Wolverine in a berserker rage, gorily gutting some ninjas.