SIGNS OF THE TIMES
I sometimes wonder why Driver puts up with me when we are on holidays ... I'm always saying "Turn around" or "back up - I want to take a photo of that sign". Signs are only one of my fetishes - I also photograph mailboxes, sunrises, sunsets, flowers and ....... well, you know how it is. Thank goodness for digital cameras. On a recent visit to Western Australia, the desire for a photo of a particular flowering tree saw us drybogged in sand which was right beside the bitumen. Within 2 minutes, two 4WDs had pulled up and in 10 mins we were out of the bog! My faith in the human desire to assist each other is confirmed. But back to the topic .......
I always appreciate the Australian sense of humour, and during our last trip I snapped some great signs.

This one, for instance, leaves no doubt in one's mind as to what the poor unfortunate farmer was saying - and also what he had been suffering. No police message could be as blunt as this, nor would it bring as many smiles.
A huge problem in W.A. when we were there were the clouds of locusts. Driving was a health hazard - after a few minutes it was impossible to see through the windscreen. We found it necessary to buy some fly screen and tie it to the bull bar to protect our grill and radiator. But, it is something the locals have learnt to live with, and there were numerous radio talk backs where people suggested recipes for eating the locusts - grilled, barbecued, crackly and crunchy, desserts ....... all recipes suggested in all seriousness! Why not take advantage of this new food resource that had flown in? Even the cafes were in on the humour, as is shown in this board in York.



And then there was the roadhouse in the middle of the Nullarbor Plain where it had become a problem for them when every dog-lover traveller let the poor animals out for a run (and the associated poo) in their spacious driveway. I wonder how many people saw the sign before the offending poo was carefully placed at their front door.



I loved the gentle way a caravan park owner told tenants not to put their smelly fish scraps in the bin.



Even the road signs had some humour about them. We were told to beware of camels, wombats, emus, kangaroos, swamp hens, scrub turkeys, plains turkeys, bilbies, long-necked turtles, ordinary turtles, ducks with ducklings, and it is surprising how often an individual touch is added to the sign - they are not all the same.





I especially love the signs that endeavour to protect us from our own stupidity. Government departments are good at this, but also there are some people who must think their fellow man has kangaroos loose in the top paddock!






My blogsite is complaining about the number of photos I am uploading, so I guess this is yet another unfinished masterpiece :o)))