« street sign shapes | Main | stress »

street stuff archives


100912_850_img_2245.jpg

auckland has this very cool thing where once or twice a year your street will be nominated for an 'inorganic waste' collection.  the weekend before the week you have to put all the rubbish that wouldn't normally be allowed in the rubbish bin (the stuff you'd take to the refuse tip in the UK).

for a few days the streets look completely messy, except they are full of fantastic things.  And there are rag and bone type people going round collecting anything which can be repaired or sold or melted down.  so by the end of the weekend there really is very little left.  it's an excellent scheme.

they are also really clear that anything you put out will end up in a landfill (unless it get taken away by a passing opportunist) so people can think twice about what they put out.

i like the mixture of official and unofficial recycling that goes on.  and the glorious mess that exists for a few days.

090603_850_img_4076.jpg

wordymungus

090304_850_img_3072.jpg

080302-090122_350d_img_3765.jpg

sometimes it's nice to take photos of things which actually are boring, rather than boring things which are actually quite exciting.

080302-090122_350d_img_3766.jpg

090217_850_img_2975.jpg

090204_350d_img_4405.jpg

090204_350d_img_4504.jpg

080302-090129_850_img_2811.jpg

080922_850_img_1127.jpg

i took this photo a few weeks back before it got really cold.  i particularly like how he'd organised himself with his shoes neatly lined up and even a bed side table with tray and drink.  lovely stuff

080922_850_img_1126.jpg

080911_350d_img_0120.jpg

it's a funky street embassador

080911_350d_img_0121.jpg

080619_850_img_9156.jpg

telco john spotted these wonky street cabinets.
http://www.funkypancake.com/blog/stuff3/2006/07/john_Image037-thumb.jpg

this happened over a period of days:

first a strange plinth appeared:
DSC08084.jpg

and the bollards moved in:
DSC08085.jpg

then a new taller parking meter appeared (this photo was taken at a different location up the street where the new one was put up on the other side):
DSC08143.jpg

the old was decommissioned:
DSC08315.jpg

then they took it away:
DSC08628.jpg

and converted the stump in to a rather handy coffee dispenser:
DSC08630.jpg

here is a paper recycling bin vomitting up it's content. luckily paper vomits are very slow so i had plenty of time to get this photo


DSC07323.jpg

This is Brydges Place - it's london's narrowist alley you know.

i thought i'd contribute something to The Way We See It, but i didn't think these photos were good enough.

but i did enjoy finding it !

DSC08157.jpg DSC08158.jpg

DSC08147.jpg

DSC08527.jpg

DSC07778.jpg

traffic lights need to lie down too.

DSC07602.jpg


click for big

DSC07228.jpg

these parallel lines are quite nice to look at. imagine if you were a small monkey scampering round the streets of london. this is probably how it would look.

person's view:
DSC06418.jpg

small monkey's view:
DSC06419.jpg

DSC05702.jpg

here's a funny old thing. it's a wicker chair next to a street person's cardboard bed.

somewhere for him to sit and read his book before retiring to bed

DSC05698.jpg DSC05699.jpg

and what about just this a street away. it's a street person's mantel piece where he can rest his beer and cigs.

DSC05700.jpg

i like taking wonky photos, but for these two objects (which were near each other on the same pavement) i didn't even need to tilt my camera.

DSC05546.jpg DSC05547.jpg

DSC04995.jpg

DSC04934.jpg

if the pine tree is the default smell of outside-ness (as seen on air freshners and toilet cleaners) then the smell of melting tar in the back of a lorry should be the smell of choice to represent town-ness.

it's got to be one of the best smells ever and i'd be very happy to install chemically-produced-equivelent-smelling-products in my life.

what's your favourite town smell ? i don't think there are that many nice ones - cooked breakfasts from cafes in the morning possibly ? keep it pleasant !

DSC04631.jpg

mains stumps.

DSC04424.jpg

here are a load of beer barrels piled up in an action movie type way. the police car just adds to the unlikelyness of it all.

you'll be pleased to know that no car came hurtling through whilst i was watching. (in fact a few minutes later all the barrels had been loaded on to a lorry and taken away)

DSC03553.jpg

this lamp is due to be mended.

i was quite impressed the council had been so good with their signs which even explained what was wrong. it's broken because of electricy supply fault apparently.

i was less impressed when i saw that their charter said it should have been mended by 13 March 2004. i may phone the helpline so we can find out what's going on.

DSC02935.jpg DSC02936.jpg

street advertising could be the future. especially if you were trying to market a product to street cleaners.

DSC02666.jpg

here is the little sign. i would have got a better picture only a man with a dog appeared at the doorway next to wear i was standing and i think he thought i looked a bit suspicious !
DSC02666b.jpg

ever wondered what's in the other half of those horrible street toilet things ? well, here's the answer. there's a giant circular brush and lots of pipes and gubbins.

DSC02659.jpg

if they'd been a no loitering sign this picture would have been even better.

i would have called it something like "stand waiting in the street".

DSC02652.jpg

DSC02605.jpg

there's all sorts of regulation about putting equipment in to boxes in the street. telephone companies are the main people that do this. here we see a new approach.

rather than using the traditional black or green boxes they've gone for a more contemporary wooden cupboard look. i think it works.

DSC02493.jpg

DSC02361.jpg

this is like one of those "what shape comes next" quizzes. for those who care, here is the worser version

DSC01615.jpg

DSC01604.jpg

better picture here

a yellow pipe in the middle of tottenham court road.

DSC00804.jpg

i thought this was quite interesting. mobile phones have increasingly made payphones unnecessary. I think BT's payphone marketing people have nicely spun this back round in their latest advertising.

there's probably a word for this in marketing speak. but i don't know what it is.

DSC00703.jpg

compare BT's response to the fate of the domestic payphone which was just down the road a bit:
DSC00708.jpg

we've seen these on street refueling p(o)ints before. here is one on a zebra crossing which is a very sensible place for it.

if this had been guiness it would have made a nice advert with the 'wait' on the sign. but it isn't. so it doesn't.

DSC00692.jpg

this road has been ground down to its concrete base ready for resurfacing. i'm really looking forward to it's new smooth covering. expect photos next week.

DSC00561.jpg

DSC00442.jpg

DSC06135.jpg

DSC06131.jpg

here are some tiles on the floor outside someone's front door. imagine being greeted by this each morning.

DSC06101.jpg

DSC06041.jpg

the tops of these railing have been painted gold since i went on holiday. they look quite fancy now

DSC05912.jpg

DSC04661.jpg

lots of small coloured sugary things

DSC04201.jpg

dozens of cable ties as used to tie notices to the lamp post.

since there are no more adverts left, perhaps this could be described as post-post-advertising perhaps ?

DSC04544.jpg

a metal stick with a slight blue glow from an adjacent light.

just how more exciting can this blog get !

DSC04740.jpg

DSC04737.jpg

this is victorian barbed wire to stop people climbing over walls in to a house's backgarden. vicious but very pretty.

DSC04479.jpg

DSC04462.jpg

DSC04237.gif

london. san francisco. same thing really. cheryl saw a compactor and then so did I. who would have thought it ?

DSC04185.jpg

DSC04171.jpg

DSC04079.jpg

street urinals have arrived in london. i'm sure this must be as a direct result of our involvement in europe.

DSC04069.jpg

DSC04047.jpg

look at this. it's a massive tap on a stick with a giant on off turny handle thing.

it's nowhere near the giant tap i saw earlier this week (which has now gone).

so what IS going on ?

DSC03939.png

i find great amusement in man hole covers which have been put back at the wrong angle so that any street writing (eg double yellow lines) suddenly go at a differnet angle.

you probably don't have a clue what i'm on about. that's my fault, not yours, so don't worry.

anyway, here is a man hole cover in the middle of the pavement nowhere near any double yellows. maybe it means no parking very small cars (or helicopters) on this manhole.

DSC03811.jpg

DSC03782.jpg

this is a street cabinet which houses telecoms equipment. every day for the last 3 years its doors have been open to reveal its technical contents. every morning i walk by and swing its doors closed.

but first i climb in and have a little rest before continuing my journey.

so, imagine my dissapointment this morning to see my old friendly cabinet with it's secret world of hidden tunnels and compartments blocked off from the public with red tape.

"no entry" it says. "pah" i say.

DSC03711.jpg

i walk down this street every day:

today i walked down the opposite side and i took a photo of all the different bits of metalwork inserted in to the pavement.:

The street is only a few 100 metres long but has a quite a variety of man hole covers

i took one photo of each type. if you can't see them below then go here

(a desktop size picture is here)

Continue reading "one side of the street" »