Tuesday 18 August 2009

Sign, sign, sign - sigh





Why do we need signs? To provide information, to advertise, to locate people, places and things, to present a store's name, for 911 purposes, to tell if you are open or closed, to tell you where to go, or what to do, or where to be. To tell us the obvious; or remind us of the law. Signs tell us where we are or where we've been "Thanks for visiting!"

They tell us current prices (don't want to know, really!), or warn of danger. They say we should buckle up, arrive alive, do not pass, and 'risk all, ye who go here'! (That was the red one: Agawa Bay, going to see the pictographs!) They HAVE lost a few tourists here, but still we visit.

It does colour the landscape and frame our roadways. It makes the country look like the city. It clutters and I become so distracted. Ads for places I will never visit, and places for which you need a reservation weeks in advance!

I read a comment in the Bracebridge Examiner:

Unfortunately, the development of Muskoka is turning it into a suburban extension of the GTA. Muskoka was formerly an escape from the aggravations of GTA city life: the high-speed traffic, the discourteous crowds, the relentless noise, the ubiquitous garbage.

I would very much agree! They left their garbage when they returned to a Toronto garbage strike. The very busy must hurry to the cottage, hurry home, escape the rain/traffic/heat/cold. They drive too quickly, they pass in unsafe conditions, they scream around the lakes and highways as if they are the most important people in the world, and the rest of us are chumps.

But it is the signage that is giving me a hard time. The powers-that-be have allowed signage at a great rate along the highway. It is a blight on the landscape. It destroys the beauty of the land that sea of green foliage we love so dearly.

I have collected photos of signs...the music is "Blow the Rest Away", by Mocking Shadows.

2 comments:

maryt/theteach said...

Well, Jenn, when you show all those signs like that (in a slide show) I am overwhelmed with all the language!! :(

Reader Wil said...

Brilliant, Jenn! Very good post. It's amazing how many signs there are on the road. Thanks for visiting and your kind comment.