Polling Booth, Haringey
Oh London what did you do?
I turn my back for a few days and this happens. Honestly, that’s the last time I leave you by yourself again, you’ve shown you can’t be trusted. No I don’t care what you’re friends are allowed to do.
Maybe it’s not all your fault. Maybe some voters were put off by the fact their polling stations looked portaloos or because they were mistakenly signposted as “Poliing Stations”. Who knows?
Spotted by Ruth Barnett @ruthbarnett
Toilet Humour, Television Centre
The BBC has a history of producing great comedy such as Fawlty Towers, The Day Today and The Office but as well as those it’s also had it’s share of stinkers like My Hero, the inexplicably popular Two Packets of Lager and a Pint of Crisps and that thing with Amanda Holden in it playing a ringmaster at a circus ( I cringed so hard upon seeing the trailer for that show that doctors had to put me into a medically induced coma for a month just to unseize my muscles ). I like the fact that here in their audience loos they’ve made the time and effort to recall the famous Mastermind catchphrase to comedic effect on a sign. Presumably Granada television have done the same thing in their studio toilets commemorating Blockbusters host Bob Holness with a plaque reading “I’ll have a pee please Bob”
Spotted by Justin Phillips whilst at a Jools Holland recording.
Charity shops are magical places. You literally have no idea what treasure you may find after stepping through their doors. It might be a copy of Jack Frost on VHS or even somebody’s old dildo!
One of the best jobs I ever had was working in charity shop when I was doing my A-levels. Part of the deal was that we got to have first claim on anything that was donated. For a nominal fee, somewhere between a pound or nothing, we were free to take home pretty much anything we wanted. Bin bags of donations would arrive and one of us would be given the task of going out the back and sorting through them all. I found some incredible stuff in my time there, rare vinyl, some choice books, a few items of designer clothing. There was always the risk however that you could find something unpleasant too. Soiled underwear was the nightmare scenario, a scenario that unfolded with depressing regularity. I learnt not to judge people by appearance alone after falling foul to a succession of seemingly well to do, balanced individuals pulling up in expensive cars, chatting about how they’d had a huge clear out and wanted their discarded bric a brac to go to good use, only to find they’ve thoughtfully donated a couple of pairs a beskidded Y-fronts into the bargain. They were the main hazard but I discovered a new one the day I found a mysterious black and gold cylinder that looked like a breath freshener. Trying to get it to work I gave it a bash. Instantly it emitted an eardrum tearing screech and sprayed some sort of mist into my face. I fell back into a pile of clothes, my eyes suddenly burning. I was blind and couldn’t see. Someone had kindly donated a rape alarm complete with a single usage of Mace. My colleague at the time found me thrashing around on the floor, choking, crying and thoroughly disorientated. I managed to gasp “Mace! Rape!” but she just laughed and told me that it was my turn on the till.
Spotted by Jennifer Wilson
You didn’t want to have to use the cubicle but you had no choice. You sit down and then you see this. Oh great. Is this person telling the truth or are they just playing mind games with you? Maybe they did actually wank on the lock. People do stranger things. I once saw a documentary where a man proudly boasted of having opportunistic sex with a helicopter….and not just any helicopter either. He had sex with Airwolf, the eponymous star of the 80′s TV show about a super, crime fighting helicopter. So it’s entirely possible there’s someone with a lock fetish out there.
Spotted by Sandip Mahal
This coffee shop in Crouch End understands how to play on parents fears. I’d be interested to see whether they’d follow through with their promise though. With that in mind, does anyone have a child ( it could even be your own ) that we could leave unattended here to see if the shop makes good with their threat? We could watch from across the road…like a stakeout. If anyone says yes I’ll provide the coffee and doughnuts.
Spotted by Tania Steventon
Spotted by Kerri Francis
