One of the many pleasures of living in a place like Bath, England, is walking in the footsteps of the people who came before -- the same footsteps, in the same places, preserved and still lived-in.
A short walk from our flat is the Kennet & Avon Canal, the nearby section of which was built in 1810. Once used for commercial navigation, it now is a lovely waterway upon which canal boats putter past as walkers and bicyclists amble along -- stopping for refreshment at fantastic pubs like The George in Bathampton.
Under the stone bridges that cross the canal one can find carved into the walls graffiti left by previous walkers. But this graffiti is as much as 200 years old.
On our walk yesterday we stopped to take a closer look. "Were they naughty teenagers?" asked my five-year-old son.
"Probably," I answered, "but two centuries ago."
My son ran on ahead, little burdened by the passage of time.
These graffiti artists were never celebrated like Banksy is today, and are now lost to time. But interestingly, they took great care when carving their legacies into the cream-colored Bath stone. Most impressively, they used a serif font, or great flowery flourishes.
They did very good work. And maybe afterward they stopped at The George for a drink.
