Lower Marsh, just beyond Waterloo Station from me, is one of my favourite London streets. It has carts loaded up with goodies from vans, and amongst these goodies are classical CDs sold by a bloke called Neil. A few yards due west from where Neil plies his trade, there is Gramex, a regular shop, which also sells an abundance of classical CDs. These CDs cost far less than downloads from the internet, and unlike downloads they are things, which I prefer. When you drop a Wagner opera on CD on your foot, it hurts. That’s what I call real value.
Anyway, yesterday, in the autumn sunshine (finally!) I came across this, which surely says something profound about the current state of the financial markets, although I am not sure quite what:
There was another one next to it, the same only black. These pigs are quite big and very solid, made of cast iron I suspect. Don’t drop one of them on your foot. They were going yesterday for a tenner each. Hurry while stocks last.
More banking and piggy banking photos by me here, and further market speculations here. The smiling china pigs are currently on show in the window of a fancy goods (I think they call such places) shop in Strutton Ground, another market street in my part of London, just off Victoria Street.
For some further commentary on what things cost these days, try this very Dail Mail piece by Robert Hughes. Hughes ought to realise that ‘artists’ these days are like small and badly behaved children. The more you complain, the happier they are, because what they crave most is attention.
‘When you drop a Wagner opera on CD on your foot, it hurts’
No it doesn’t.
On a related note, I was in Norfolk today talking to a couple of farmers, who were expressing their disgust at the way taxpayers are having to help pony up billions to support the banking industry.
Coming from two European farmers, I’m struggling to think of a more staggeringly outrageous example of hypocrisy. Still, ten out of ten for chutzpah.
The Wall Street saying I would think of is “Bulls make money; bears make money; pigs get slaughtered.” (can also be heard with “hogs” in lieu of “pigs”)
‘When you drop a Wagner opera on CD on your foot, it hurts’
When you play the full Ring cycle on your PC, it hurts.
Pete, it was only a suggestion, not a command!
As for flying pigs, I’ve known about them for years. What’s wrong with police helicopters?
Not one CD, maybe. But the Solti Ring on Decca (which I have, as it happens, narrowly avoided dropping on my foot) is like a housebrick. Just one of many reasons to steer clear, in my opinion.
As it is now Friday, Sept. 26, and the US financial market is imploding and threatening to suck in the European money markets, along with the US government negotiating about a highly expensive financial bailout of the mortgage industry, I’d like to hear what the Samizdatans have to say about this state of affairs.
I have one, its black and my dad said he got it imported from Louisiana… Is that true???