The Elephant in the Room and Trafalgar Square, South Bank etc.

There are a noticeable amount of elephants all round the capital just now in an attempt to publicise the dearth of this magnificent creature because man is encroaching on their space.  Man (and woman)kind have not got a lot to be proud of - we are wrecking the planet, polluting the seas, over-populating the land etc. etc.  I could go on, but it would be too depressing.

However, the presentation of colourful elephants all over London is a bright and interesting way to highlight the problem - there are 250 apparently and I am going to try to photograph them all before they are taken away some time in July.  There is even an elephant parade at the Royal Hospital Chelsea at the end of June and I spotted a jewelled one, situated appropriately in Coutts Bank.  However, I have put a taster with this blog.  Enjoy!

Then I started to think about the expression 'the elephant in the room' and couldn't help remembering the Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin with him seeing a hippopotamus every time his wife mentioned her mother.  My, very rude partner, suggested someone big to dinner one night and remarked that then we really would have an elephant in the room.

The expression of course means the presence of something not talked about or ignored, usually causing an atmosphere.  When I have an argument with someone and they think I am in to the wrong they may sulk and not speak to me - a punishment I don't enjoy.  I suppose that is 'the elephant in the room', but it usually refers to something much more sinister such as abuse, violence and sadism.  Fortunately, these days those subjects are shown the light of day more and no longer cast as dark a shadow as they used too.  However, there are still children and adults subject to abuse and violence and it is time for more refuges for the battered and care for the abused.

I believe the 'elephant in the room' in another home I know of was addiction - parents never referred to it and never even visited when their son was in treatment, nor his brother who was in hospital for drug-related problems at one time.  When I first mentioned addiction in that home, saying that Hepatitis C was probably caused by 'recreational drug use' the mother said she didn't know what I was talking about!  Now that is an enormous 'elephant in the room'.


I am not sure there was an 'elephant in the room' in my family home because we were encouraged to be honest and open and our parents were open and caring.  I was probably the one of us four children who shared least, being a rather private and secretive child.  I suppose sex was a little glossed over - my father was a minister and sex was considered taboo outside of marriage.  They had to give way on that after I moved in with a boyfriend, but it was at least a steady relationship - we were together for over 20 years and married seven years into the relationship.  Over the years, of course, they changed with the times and became less rigid in their beliefs.  I was proud of their honesty and belief in all of us children and couldn't imagine them not visiting us if one of us had been in treatment for anything.