I am always nagging friends to use their powers of observation more; to stop staring at the pavement when they are walking along the road and look up and around themselves.
OK, so they might spot and avoid the dog poo the pavement pizzas, but do they notice all the interesting they walk over on a daily basis? Things such as ironic bits of rubbish, reflections and, of course, coal holes.
I am now thinking that perhaps I could also been taking photos of the splatter patterns of discarded chewing gum at pedestrian crossings (has anyone ever seen anyone in the act throwing chewing gum on the pavement? I surely haven't). And then there are names and paw prints that were impressed into semi-dry cement, the colourful leaves in the autumn, spray painted instructions for Thames Water workmen that look like abstract art, sunlight reflecting off the broken glass from a burgled car... I could go on and on... and I usually do... so please make do with these...
Row 1: Temporary metal floor in Old Broad Street; mosaic man hole cover in Wandsworth Bridge Road; Hayward's coal hole cover designed to allow day light through; Thomas Crapper man hole cover in Knightsbridge; Donovan [Doyle] written into the cement of London Bridge.
Row 2: Thomas Pryor coal hole plate in Islington; mosaic entrance-way to an old shop in Wigmore Street; reflections in a Deptford cobbled street; directions to Tat (ha ha!) in Southwark; another Hayward's coal hole cover, this time with non-slip areas.
Row 3: Litter bag littering the street in Holloway; geometric patterns around the Gherkin; chewing gum art in Crouch End; reflection of the Astoria and Centrepoint; remnants of a tiled doorway entrance in Wandsworth.
Row 4: Square grille in Northumberland Avenue; Durey manhole cover in Stepney; rubbish washed up by the Thames at Battersea; circular grille in Bloomsbury; shadows at Islington Green