Heat, sun, spring, smiles...a great start to a weekend...

So I went to my first Polish soccer match last night, Korona Kielce Vs. Wisla Krakow. Top notch entertainment. After meeting the director of another one of the (many, many, many) language schools in Kielce (there are around 80 hin this little place compared to about 50 in Krakow!) he he asked me did I like football, I admitted that i didn'y follow the sport but wanted to see the local team play sometime, if possible in their new stadium, he had connections and in a matter of minutes I had a rendez-vous arranged and prime spot seats waiting for me should I decide to take his offer.
Well yes, of course.
The guys and lady i met were all nice people, and we had a great time watching the local bous win. Various Queens anthems blared from the in-house PA and I was impressed by the clubs organisation of a good atmosphere - balloons, drums, horns, and co-ordinated cards for the crowd to hold up, turning the (almost sell-ouy) stadium into a giant scarf. Mexican waves were participated in by one and all, and the happy noisey supporters were loud but not nasty all the way back into town, which meant that the heavy riot police presence was for show only, thankfully.

I found some more "stencil graffiti" or "street art" or whatever it is that it is or was called (am I collecting iimages of a fad that has been and gone? who knows? ....cares?) and i noted that the date (see above) on one of the samples was 1998, I am so outr of the loop, but i just can't help myself from snapping them up. I feel it is a bit like recording a small movement in visual art practice, and in a way recording a little piece of history as this little city is undergoing rapid change in the form of renewal and urban (re)development. It really is an "up-and-coming" place. I have noted that several of the pieces of graffiti that I have taken photos of so far have had bulky advertisements installed over their once sprayed up flat spaces. All change. As per usual.

I found this slightly disturbing arrangement "KKK" on the walls of the walkway between platforms in the local train station. I at first thought that this was a nod to the rascism that I had mentioned in an earlier post. However, I have noted that there are lonely letter K's spread, and sprayed around town, and so and hoping that it is someone's "tag" and that this is just unfortunate.

I couldn't help but think of it though after reading in the Guardian about an African student that was shot in St. Petersburg by some nut with a rifle emblazoned with a swastika. Not the first attack/murder of it's kind. Bad times.