Wednesday 27 September 2006

Commit no Nuisance

I have this picturesque picture on my door, so I can be reminded, among other things, of the subjective character of public messages. What do you mean, mate? Haha. What is a fucking nuisance? My piano teacher said it was originally made to keep people from peeing on the streets. Right... I imagine a drunk 18th century man dying for a piss getting his willy out of his trousers, feeling the warm flow of piss coming, the relief of pissing, oh, so nice, blissfully looking up to see this sign and quickly holding his urine cos he doesn't want to commit a nuisance. That doesn't happen, does it? This sign lives round the corner from my college, and I come and visit it every couple of weeks, just to say hello, since now the times changed and no one seems to know what a nuisance is anymore. And I love it!

But, hey, that's how they do it in England apparently, in conjunction with the "fit in" lobotomy and imposed "common sense". They put signs everywhere, expensive ones, and people just follow it(?), and the respectable middle class smiles happily. They made this huge campaign to tackle illegal work. Big fuck off posters in every bus stop saying "we know where you get you cash in hand work". Scary, hu? Not really. They spent 3 million pounds on advertisement and caught 3 people! Haha.

But I really think it's a clever way to do things. I suspect that odd fellow thinking about cheating the system is going to think twice if he/she sees big posters on every corner. Don't know about the knife campaign. It's a big problem here in England. No guns? Let's stab, then. The piss campaign, well, I won't piss on the street cos I don't have a willy, that's the main reason, but that sign would never keep me from doing it cos I wouldn't guess what it means. Lovely. Keep it like that.

6 comments:

Indigobusiness said...

It is beyond me how, in the hands of anyone else, these things would be a sordid tangle of tawdry nonsense, yet here it is presented as an exaltation: full of light and air and crazy wisdom.

Twit said...

You're funny, Ib. If I'd written that, you'd have ripped it to shreds.

Aaaaanyway, interesting post,
Paula. Are you menstruating again?

Now THAT^ was a wee slice of nationalistic passive-aggression...
What ja fink?

;¬]#

God is NOT a Urinating Pigeon.

Hertz Hertz said...

You made my day with your comment, IB

You're lovely people, you.

I'm not menstruating, no. To be honest I just wanted to introduce that sign to you cos I look at it everyday and it makes me smile. I think it's amazing: commit no nuisance. Quite abstract.

But it's true thou, here in England they invest a lot in advertising as a way to fix problems. It shows they are doing things but sometimes I think they are not. And I don't really expect them to do anything either. I love London, anyway...

Indigobusiness said...

You're right, Twit, like I said: "...in the hands of anyone else..."

You sordid, tawdry twat.

We should drink, sometime, and trade insults.

Most excellent, the lighting here. Mind if I open a window?

Twit said...

I insult you without even trying, Ib. To actually attempt to would be completely unnecessary.

E Tup:)

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Indigobusiness said...

Can't argue with that, Twit, but you should've kept your chin hair.

Pie?