Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
One of the things I like about this blog is that I can illustrate it. Most of the photos are my own, taken with disposable Safeway cameras.
This entry, much like the one I did a few months ago about palm trees, is photo-driven. It’s about signs.
First up is the new countdown pedestrian traffic signal at Normal Avenue and Second Street. It shows you how much time you have left to cross the street before the light changes. I first experienced and appreciated these kinds of signals in San Francisco, where you take your life in your hands every time you try to cross the street.
You're just going to have to take my word for it that the signal counts down numbers. This quality of this photo suggests that I might need to upgrade the type of camera I use.
This is also a talking signal. When you press the button it will tell you whether the light is red or green. I assume this is for people who can’t see the signal.
The next sign is a historical artifact. Fairview Center, near the intersection of East Avenue and Cohasset Road, is still around, but Nunzio’s Market is presumably long-gone. I found it interesting that the sign for it still stands. It shows how businesses — even those that merited tall signs — come and go. When we came to Chico about 10 years ago, the Bomber’s Baja burritos placed was in Fairview Center. We were faithful customers for about five years, but then we started going to other burrito places.
When I last looked, Bomber’s was gone and the building was vacant. We may be partly to blame for it going out of business.
And now for the mystery spot sign. Can you figure out where it is? The word “beautiful” has been carved into the back of this sign. The word “Bush” is a graffiti addition. It was hard to get a good photo of this sign because at this time of the year, the tall trees next to it shade it from the sun most of the day. You don’t have to walk by the sign to read the back of it. It’s visible from the road.
The last sign, like so many that clutter the landscape, is funny because it states the obvious. It says we shouldn’t dump stuff into the storm drain, but who would do such a thing? And if you are the sort of person who does this, no sign is going to stop you. I guess these signs are part of the movement to bolster Chico’s “green” credentials.
This entry is so photo-driven that the text isn't quite taking up enough room to wrap around the four photos. I'm writing this to help pad the text. I don't really need that much text because the signs speak for themselves, although it is clear to me that they would do a better job of speaking if my photos did a better job of showing details, such as the numbers on the countdown sign.