Look, slinky!
(Fabric sign on the motorway bridge at Charing Cross: Glasgow, UK)
I noticed this on my way from a morning meeting on Friday; a cut bed sheet with a painted message. It is still hanging over the Charing Cross pedestrian bridge, overlooking the M8 motorway, although after a full day of rain, it is looking decidedly dishevelled. Some of my favourite discoveries are different kinds of home made and professional signage (if you type ‘sign’ into the search box up there on the top right of this page – and click search, of course – you’ll see several that I have noticed over the past year and a half).
What attracts me about these signs, especially the home made, more spontaneous ones, is that I try to imagine who made them and what they are trying to communicate. This one is a fabulous example of one that keeps me guessing; it reads “SLINKY I LOVE YOU SORRY”. It could be a man or woman sending a message to a man or woman, and this ‘Slinky’ character must either drive under the bridge or walk under it to see it. Presumably they might be commuting in that direction and the author is hoping Slinky will find it and forgive them. What is not clear from the lack of punctuation is whether they are sorry for loving Slinky or sorry for something else. I love it. It is very rare to witness such a personal, yet public message and to try to comprehend the amount of work that made it possible. On close inspection, it is a large, fitted, elasticated bed sheet that has been cut to offer the best canvas space for writing on. It has then been painted and cable tied to the railings. Had I not been travelling that way, I might have missed seeing it entirely. I hope that whatever the author has done to Slinky, that Slinky at least appreciates the effort, even if they can’t bring themselves to forgive them.
– Today Rosie is lunching with friends, filing her tax return and working in Glasgow, Scotland –
