January 1996, January 2025
Not long ago we went to walk the alpacas at Botany Bay farm on the edge of London. A charming experience with a passionate farmhand and photogenic animals.
This brought back memories of a hostel in La Paz, where the graffiti on the back of a toilet door was exclusively alpaca-themed. Much of the scrawling could have been written about sheep in another location, and followed a common and predictable trope. “Alpacas: wear ‘em, eat ‘em, fuck ‘em – you decide” – and many variations thereof.
However, there was one which stood out and made me laugh. The uniquely brilliant and simple “Al Pacone”. I can visualize its position, off to the upper left towards the edge of the door frame. Easy to miss physically. Easy to miss semantically too, by virtue of typoglycaemia. Set apart, distinct, and a cut above the rest.