Monday 19 February 2007

Reading the Signs of Sheffield...

I've been a strange mood recently. I couldn't shake it off - not by getting on with the things I should be getting on with, and not by sitting around waiting for it to change. So this afternoon I decided to distract myself by walking home from town through the back streets, looking out for all the signs and symbols I wouldn't usually notice:

animated gif slideshow of signs and symbols

Some of them are really strange.

For example, it was only when I stopped to take a picture of the bent round signpost under the Bramall Lane roundabout that I noticed someone had changed all the wording - one way pointed to "Big Fish" and "Bigger Fish", another to "Bottom Feeders". What's the story there?

And who are the "Army of the Flying Robots"?

Others just amused me. Like the banner advertising a romantic Valentine's dinner at the football ground, which sounded like the perfect solution for a man torn between two loves - the Blades and his other half.

But if any fellow Sheffielders know the stories behind the signs, I'd be really interested to know.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Long, long, ago, there was an art project under the brammel lane roundabout. Each of the tunnels had posters of aquatic scenes (dolphins, etc) and notices advertising it as the "Sheffield Aquarium". The bent signpost that you photographed is all that remains, and the references on the signs are to the posters that were in the tunnels

I used to think this was a wonderful wonderful thing that someone (who?) had spontaneously decided to decorate this unassuming bit of Sheffield, until i noticed that it was sponsored by the arts council, when i revised my opinion to just thinking it was a wonderful thing.

Tom(Idiolect)

Dougald Hine said...

Hi Tom! Thanks for filling me in - sounds like it was great. I wonder if anyone's got any photos?

And thanks to everyone from the Sheffield Forum who's dropped by to take a look or joined in the thread over there!

signs sheffield said...

I really like your post. It is very informative. Great..!!

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