A curious urban coincidence?

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

C-H-M was out and about with Mr Boden in London a few weeks ago paying a visit to the V&A when he spotted something amusing on a Piccadilly Line train, but forgot about it. Last night C-H-M was hopping about on the Piccadilly line again, as he is wont to do & he spotted it again and this morning has found the item in question on the Transport For London website.

The top photo shows a decorative panel displayed on the trains as part of Transport For London's 'Platform Art'. It shows a scene entitled variously 'Fantasy Piccadilly Line' or 'Above Ground 2050' (in this example). It's a poster designed for TFL by an artist called Nils Norman. Depicted is "a series of unrealised and fantastical buildings and systems alongside other artists’ unrealised proposals for London. The map presents a vision of London as an ecological haven inhabited by Utopian and Dystopian machinery as an alternative to the more typical view of the city dominated by tourist attractions." Yeah, right.

There are fantasy locations with titles such as the 'Ministry of Love Peace and Plenty' and the 'Ministry of Truth'. Or the 'St James's Park and Buckingham Palace Gardens Adventure Playground Chain' or the 'Westminster Bog and Wetland Chain'. Not a monarchist, one suspects, Mr Norman, and perhaps not keen on politicians. But did he ever have a connection to Crickley Hill and Ullenwood? Why else would the lower photo in the enlarged version depict 'Mike Webb's Sin Centre'? It's on a slightly grander scale than a tent at Ullenwood ...



Here's the man himself having a bit of fun with an axe: