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Public Transport<\/strong><\/p>\n Sir Edward Elgar is standing at a bus stop This quartet have been waiting since one Sunday There were some discordant voices – an unnamed The pranksters have apologised for not asking Ray Miller<\/strong> is growing a moustache and a bowler hat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Public Transport Sir Edward Elgar is standing at a bus stop in Great Malvern, alongside a public telephone kiosk; bowler-hatted and moustachioed, nonchalantly squinting at his fluorescent green mobile. To his left there are three more of him – he\u2019s quite the man about town. Behind the seats of the bus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11607,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11589\/revisions\/11607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nin Great Malvern, alongside a public telephone kiosk;
\nbowler-hatted and moustachioed, nonchalantly
\nsquinting at his fluorescent green mobile.
\nTo his left there are three more of him – he\u2019s quite
\nthe man about town. Behind the seats of the bus shelter,
\nin what would carry for smart casual
\nat the wine bar up the road, he\u2019s examining
\nhis wristwatch, gazing hopefully at the distance,
\nthen finally discovering the composure of sleep.<\/p>\n
\nin late winter. They \u201cappeared overnight\u201d and the whisper
\nwas that Banksy had blessed us with his signature.
\nYet when the work was revealed to be that of local artists,
\nthe good citizens of Malvern suppressed
\ntheir disappointment, for they know what they like.
\nA campaign was orchestrated, opinion was canvassed:
\nBill, 66, and a retired mechanic,
\nthought the images were brilliant and was crossing
\nhis fingers that the council wouldn\u2019t write them off.<\/p>\n
\naccountant called the paintings vandalism
\nand urged their removal. Supposing I drew
\nNigel Kennedy, unshaven and sporting
\nan Aston Villa top, lighting up a cigarette
\non the railway station walls, the reception
\nmight not be quite as warm. But, alas, I cannot paint
\nor do anything but sleep in the early hours
\nof Sundays. It is artists who are driven;
\nmy sort are just transported, after all.<\/p>\n
\npermission and have stated that we don\u2019t condone
\nunauthorised graffiti. The council have allowed
\nthe paintings to remain and are promising
\nto smarten up the bus stop and its environs.
\nIn addition they\u2019ve commissioned further work
\nfrom the duo, who describe the public reaction
\nas \u201csurreal\u201d. It is all so very British, though
\nthe bus drivers are not happy, always late
\nto catch up with the prevailing mood.
\nSo many sightseers gather to look upon
\nSir Edward Elgar, they often halt their buses
\nfor no passengers at all. There\u2019s an example
\nof the capacity of art to confound.<\/p>\n