Artificiality and Affectation

Many suburban streets are full of flowering cherry about now, a wonderfully heartening sight and to my eyes an artificial effect totally justified in a consciously man made setting. Blossom on Blacka Moor is less evident at the moment but can be found here.

This beech though looks more of an artefact even than silk flowers, being so intensely hard edged. It could almost be plastic.

Reactions depend on whether things 'look right' or are appropriate to their setting. At the Lenny Hill crossroads referred to yesterday is this newly installed bench replacing the previous simple one. Strong views have been expressed about this.

Around the edge some words have been scratched graffiti style from a children's classroom poetry writing 'experience'. The pillars are about as deliberately unskilled as possible; perhaps children did those too. Of course one must be very careful indeed about criticising anything done by children and that would not be right. But the adults who conceived of this are another matter. I understand that public were involved in a meeting which discussed whether to install this kind of thing and the decision was taken not to do it but somebody went ahead anyway. I suppose it was another case of a project that was funded from some distant body with a budget for 'improvements'. I'm afraid I find it a gimmick and a trendy affectation rather agreeing with the visitor who wondered what the children themselves would think of it ten years on.

No excuse whatever can be found for promoting a 'natural' solution to a problem and then implementing it without the courage of one's convictions, viz: