white screen of death

New visitors to this is my england may wonder what the hell the above picture is meant to represent. It doesn't look like much, does it? Just a bit of a wall somewhere.

Regulars, though, may recognise this as the Camden canvas on which street artist stu bags has fun with his stickers, stencils and other stuff.

stu's stuff was first noticed by this is my england in April, first photographed during the farcical AV referendum in May, and first discussed here in July. By August, stu knew his output was being monitored by this is my england and had made contact to make himself known. Later that month, stu was moved to make  use his regular chunk of north London wall to make a comment about the disturbances and looting that were gripping parts of our capital at the time. stu's efforts to do so, however, were thwarted by the intervention of an unknown hand. stu had pasted up six pictures of the violent disorder, each bearing his WE HAVE A PROBLEM slogan. In the twenty minutes he was away from the scene, the pictures were removed. stu had not managed to capture the work with a camera.

Whether the mystery hand was owned by someone who objected to stu's work, or whether its owner just fancied the photos for his or her wall at home, is a matter of pure conjecture. Picture thief? Or anti-graffiti vigilante? We shall never know. Unless someone writes in to this is my england to spill the beans.

Lightning, contends a well-known adage, never strikes in the same place twice. stu, this is my england is afraid to report, may now argue otherwise. This week, he informs this is my england that he went out on Thursday night to overhaul the white rectangle. Having recently suffered laptop problems, he decided to recreate the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH by spraying the whole space blue, sticking a rubber keyboard under it and adding to the newly created piece with a stencil that had taken him days to make. The whole exercise having taken a while, stu was fearful of getting caught. While this is my england considers stu's work to be a welcome embellishment to the dull surfaces of Camden's now-closed Housing Office, this is not the universal view, perhaps, and it is to be supposed that apprehending street artists is among the duties of our constabulary. In his keenness to split the scene, stu neglected to photograph his work for posterity - a great shame, it turned out the next morning. Everything had gone. stu would surely have been forgiven the air the same shade as that deathly screen of doom.

It is to be hoped, then, that the next time stu goes to such trouble, he remembers to take a few snaps there and then.

For now, all that remains of stu's work in his favoured spot are a few ghostly impressions of the slogans of old. Let's see what happens next. Watch that space - this is my england will.