Shortly after posting my entry earlier, I casually flipped on the news, only to hear that some wanker had defaced the artwork I’d just been blogging about. I know I shouldn’t get so worked up about things like this, but hearing that kind of annoyed me: some barely literate runt had obviously assumed he had a right to put his mark on a piece of art before it could be enjoyed by others. Whoever he was, he obviously thought he was being bold and brave, but had only shown himself to be a mindless chav.

Slightly bothered by this, after breakfast I set off back to charlton to see what was happening down there. To my pleasant surprise, I found that two men were at work, putting a clear plastic sheet over the artwork to protect it. The car the rhinoceros had seemingly been mounting had been moved.

The white graffiti scrawl was, however, clearly visible and to my mind spoiled the image. I went up to the wall and tried to scrape it off with my thumbnail, but without much luck. Soon the picture would be covered by a plastic sheet, inane scrawl and all. It seemed such a shame: as soon as something beautiful or interesting appears, some tosser thinks they have the right to deface it. Oh well. At least the fact that it’s now protected shows how much the wider community values such art.