London colors
Colors…When I mentioned colors in the last post, I had a vision of the British city in my head dated from when I was twelve years old and was sent during the summer in a family to learn the language. One of the first things I noticed then was that, compared to Paris, London was a colorful urban landscape. The red busses of course, the red public telephone booths, but also the street signs were bright vivid colors in the middle of a grey and brown architecture. Paris is not as colorful. It is in fact quite subdued. And you would never see in the French Capital a strong yellow palissade. Another typical English character is the graphic use of typography, much more daring than in France. And also most of the time very efficient and beautiful. So here we are, in one of those bleak London streets, crossed by strong graphic signs. White lines on the road, yellow stripe, and a green bridge. It seems like all this is meant to compensate the rather flat light and the impression that, without these bold colors, it would reflect the kind of boring feeling the atmosphere of this city gives me. In fact I like this boring feeling, it gives me a sense of continuity…