Where I live I get to drive past the Canberra Airport at least a couple of times a week, and for the last month or so I’ve been chuckling at this sign (though also just a little distressed, not much, just a little). I can’t help thinking the sign is suggesting that this is a place to roll out very sick hospital patients, not quite a cemetery but a dumping ground, a place to leave people in whom we’ve lost interest because they have become too hard to care for, or their case too hopeless. Or it’s a place for people who’ve lost interest in their days to dispose of their bodies. A handy chute for poor souls, then. A place to discard, not to fly. Though perhaps flying and discarding might be more closely related than I give it credit for. Who doesn’t shed something, or die a bit, even just emotionally, internally, when they climb aboard a trusty jet and get away for a while?
PS Suggested music for this post: Red House Painters and associates. Pick a song at random. You’ll know what I mean.
11 comments
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April 10, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
Ms. Moon
Oh yeah!
April 10, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
itallstarted
I love signs like these. This time last year I was in the UK and took a pile of funny sign photos. My favourite (and I saw it in more than one place) was a sign usually placed near schools or caravan parks that read “Dead Slow Children”. Classic.
April 10, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Ms Moon – oh yeah indeed!
Hi It All Started – Mmm “Dead Slow Children”. I wonder what on earth that could mean! A classic for sure. A completely delightful sign I’ve seen recently was a sandwich board that simply read ‘Cupcakes for everything’. I just love that. Another less innocent one was on the side of a secure office paper-recycling van: “Destruction Guaranteed”. Nice to know.
April 11, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
Iain Hall
Good post made me laugh 😉
April 11, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
Nigel Featherstone
Thanks Iain!
April 12, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
Nana Jo
I love those signs which don’t quite convey what was intended. We all need a wee bit of whimsy in our lives.
April 12, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
Nigel Featherstone
Thanks for dropping by, Nana Jo. Here’s cheers for whimsy!
April 13, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
Sarcastic Bastard
Nigel,
I love Red House Painters. That sign is classic. Laugh.
Sending love,
SB
April 13, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
Nigel Featherstone
Hi SB. Glad you love those lovely miserablists, Red House Painters! When in the right mood, which in my case was quite often, I loved that band with a passion.
April 16, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
A Free Man
Sun Kil Moon. Oh my god. I’m completely in the thrall of Mark Kozelek.
April 17, 2010 at 9:16+00:00Apr
Nigel Featherstone
Hi AFM, I take it you weren’t aware of the link between Red House Painters and SKM and Mark Kozelek? Or was that just a “I love anything this guy does” comment? Either way, you’re right, Mark K is a genius. He should be a household name.