Thursday, October 6, 2011

Ars longa, vita brevis

An old and yet never ending argument about the necessity of cycling helmets is closed for me now as I saw a young girl today lying at the middle of the Marylebone road near her fallen bike, scarily motionless, her head in a puddle of blood. Apparently she hasn't been run over, more like knocked off her bicycle, and it's hard to tell for sure but to me it looked like the helmet could have been very helpful. I agree that the serious accidents happen mostly when a heavy vehicle traps the victim under its wheel, and in that case even an army helmet is useless. But believe me, that was still a terrible and very convincing scene to witness. Hope the girl is alive and will get well.

I also experienced a very disturbing feeling of my own feebleness - I don't possess any practical first aid knowledge so it was silly just to pass by and even more ridiculous just to stay and stare. Some man from the public gathered was doing something to the unlucky cyclist, and just to do anything instead of simply standing I called an ambulance while being sure it has been already done (and indeed was told they were already on their way). Now I want to get time to attend a special course or something - being just a helpless observer is very uneasy.

Only two days since the last lethal accident. London is still much safer than many other cities of its size, but be careful for it pays off.

Anyway, I managed to get to the life drawing class on time (usually I don't manage to make it there but today got off the office earlier). It's been several months since my last visit so everything felt new once again, plus there was plenty of space and thus a lot of available easels.

Candid Art Trust Candid Art Trust

I used my Sharpie pen together with a charcoal this time and also made some smaller sketches in my notebook.

Figure drawing Figure drawing Figure drawing

As usually, the N1 area is vividly busy even at the evening. I've been suspecting for a long time that every night is a Friday night there.

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