At the weekend, Karleen and I went walking on a hillside meadow, full of wildflowers, that you can see across the valley from many vantage-points. Amongst the blooms was lots of ragwort, notorious for being poisonous to grazing mammals. I looked carefully for any sign of the cinnabar caterpillar, but none were to be seen.
Then yesterday walking back with K from her office at the hospital, and taking our usual route down back alleys, I saw them. So I came back with a camera just now, and managed these snaps before the batteries ran out.
It’s nice to find such specimens of Nature at her jazziest in one of these notorious alleys: in precisely the spot where I was once punched by a staggering drunk, an alley which K and I avoid if it’s the venue for a “meeting”. Young men seem to like it as a place to hang out. If they’re Poles, they’ll be drinking Tyskie or Zywiec. 
If they are the local Asians, it’ll be soft drinks and cigarettes. When I’m on my own, I always forge ahead, to reclaim my share of the alley as a thoroughfare; but prefer not to escort a lady unless the path is clear. It’s an instinctual thing.
The colourful wall records some initiative years ago to express a no-drugs message with professional graffiti – text and panorama – sponsored by local companies. Other messages have long been superimposed.
But then, “official” graffiti are on the increase in High Wycombe. The University puts out cool messages in this form 
And even at the Hospital, near where Karleen works, they have screwed some large graffiti-like paintings (prepared elsewhere, earlier) to certain drab outside walls. Why, we cannot imagine.
Are we culturally advanced or retarded? I can’t decide.
a wayfarer’s notes 
Vincent,
I’m so glad you were able to capture the caterpillars. They are so lovely and carefree nibbling on their ragwort. Are there many other areas such as Wye Vale with these back alleys?
Interesting about the professional graffiti. Some graffiti work is nice, but if it isn’t cleaned up—so to speak—I can see how your closing question then becomes relevant.
LikeLike
Vincent, somehow I prefer old walls to Graffiti. Old walls have a history of their own to tell in a gently non-obtrusive manner whereas Graffiti tends to hit you, crying for attention like a loud modern commercial or the product of a crowded mind.
Towns and cities to me are the prettiest if they an odd statue here or there, some street furniture like old ornate wrought iron benches, lantern style street lights and a window box full of flowers, a hanging pot, or a corner enclosure of some flowers or ferns, just a tree or anything else green but definitely not graffiti. They evoke a vision in me of street kids gone wild.
LikeLike
Rebb, it's a feature of England to have public footpaths, protected by law, in town and country. There are also numerous “bridleways” where you can ride or lead a horse, as well as walk.
As to my final question, whether we are culturally advanced or retarded, I was not referring to the spontaneous graffiti of unruly youth – I'm perversely sympathetic to that – but the official adoption of graffiti styles by corporate sponsors of murals, such as our local university and its neighbour, the municipal hospital.
It seems a little retarded (or artistically, culturally and morally bankrupt) for those who know better to ape disaffected youth, just in order to reach out and be fashionably cool! That is what I meant. For the implication is that those who are older (with longer memories) and better-educated are ready to scrap their traditions and copy their own children.
LikeLike
Vincent, I too sympathise deeply with street kids, even those who have gone wild, because many of the wilder ones are the most talented, and they are that way because perhaps their parents were too hard pressed to give them enough time or to put them under care/supervision etc..
If cities use some of the talent of these kids to get Graffiti created that is great too but it need not be done on city walls. Parks can be reserved for that and the best retained as a museum sort of a place that others can visit when they are in a mood for it. However to subject every city dweller to it, perhaps every day of the year is a bit too much. Sponsors if any such as the university, hospitals or corporations may help to create such parks or enclosures perhaps even on their own grounds
LikeLike
We are neither drab or retarded, in my view, Vincent. Most of the graffiti art I have seen in the UK is interesting to look at, even very worthwhile looking at. That's where much of its relevance lies. It is attainable and open to a wide audience. It is a true pop art.
It is more than I can say for certain neighbouring countries where all the graffiti looks distinctly like acts of widest and tallest vandalism, and in swathes.
The caterpillars are truly amazing.
LikeLike