Fake 76

Part of the green wall decorating part of the north balustrade of the new-to-us upper deck of the Wightlink ferry terminal. The place where you catch ferries to Fishbourne. Entirely fake, being made of green plastic.

While clocking the fake, we also clocked the fact that that celebration of Portsmouth, the Spinnaker Tower, is actually a celebration of the Emirates, along with various better known attractions in London.

Musing about the antics of oil-rich sheikhs, it occurred to me that that antics of coal-rich landowners in the north of England at the time of the industrial revolution must have struck their countrymen in much the same way. Irritation that someone should acquire great wealth by accident rather than by endeavour and that he should spend that wealth in such silly ways. Forgetting the observation that I first came across in Balzac, that it is entirely proper of rich people to spend all their money on ridiculous luxury goods and services. That way the money trickles down through the population.