‘Little Green Men’ have been with us for years.
An exclusively bean-eating brother and sister arrived in Woolpit, Suffolk at some point in the 12th century, orginating in the subterranean ‘St Martin’s Land’ and emerging from a cave, drawn by the bells of Bury St Edmunds.
A green-coloured Martian was reported for the first time in the Kennebec Journal of 1908, newly arrived in Augusta, Maine. Two years later a crashed extraterrestrial was supposedly recovered in Apulia, Italy.
Broughton, however, has remained undisturbed by such troubling surprises. Until yesterday, when our own verdant visitor appeared in the Rodney Street Tunnel.
When Spurtle photographed it at around 5pm, the paint was still wet.
Neko is the Japanese word for cat, but what relevance it has here is uncertain. Nor do we understand the significance of the number 17. Is this the 17th such mural invasion by an artist calling themself Neko?
The visual inspiration for the design is easier to explain. A short walk to Tesco’s crisp aisle soon uncovers the delicious corn and wheat-based Space Raiders: inexpensive snacks shaped like alien faces and at various times since their introduction in the 1970s available in beef, pickled onion, spicy, salt-and-vinegar, cheese, and saucy BBQ flavours.
What does it all mean? Who is responsible? Why is it here? We have no idea.
The truth is out there. All suggestions gratefully received.