This is the advnetures of the fox and lamb. Depending on the mood you never know who you will catch next.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Blocking the scenery and breaking my mind

I think that some long haired band, playing some off-beat acoustic chorus, said it best when they said:

Sign Sign everywhere a sign Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign

Now the signs that concern me most here in Jersey are not those stating that long haired hippy people of employment options, options available for trespassers , dress-code requirements at restaurants, or prayer. I am talking about signs that tax dollars go to under the assumed umbrella of public safety. My confusion is how when I mention these signs to the “locals” they have what they consider perfectly good reasoning for the signs. This concerns me since I see such humor. I might note that one of the “locals” I questioned about the sign’s also explained to me that “the double yellow stripe means that the school bus comes this way.” WOW!

So here they are the 4 signs in my neighborhood that concern, humor, and leave me speechless.

Sign 1: “Watch Children”: In most states this is considered illegal! Save they are your children or this is your paid profession. Before you get smart and logical; most signs read “Watch for Children, Children Playing, ect.” Not “watch children.” If you find no humor in this sign you might want to stop reading now.

Sign 2: “No Right Turn When Children Present”: My assumption would be that this is an adjective and therefore be defined as when children are in some sort of local proximity to the corner said sign is on. HMMM! What if they are in the car with you, can you not turn right? What is the area that is considered present? Is that 50ft, 100ft, 1 mile, visible? What if there is a child in the car in front of me! Do I wait until that car is 100 ft. away before I can make my right turn? As it has been explained to me by people who consider themselves “locals”; this sign is because children walk to and from school along that route…..Well couldn’t you put a sign that says no right turns between x and y? (x and y are school hours) And if a kid is skipping school in the middle of the day I should have the right to run over him/her for wasting my tax dollars.

Sign 3: “Delayed Green”:
Why in the heck do I need to know that the light has a delayed green. “Locals” have explained that this sign as, “so that when you see traffic coming from the other way you don’t decide to go.” I could go on hours about that statement! Somehow Jersey public schools rank among the highest in the nation. As far as the other states are concerned; Green = go, red = stop, and yellow = glance in mirror for cop and gas it. The sign is positioned right next to the stop light. So in order to read the sign and see that the light is a delayed green don’t you have to be looking at the light?

Sign 4: “Hidden Driveway”: Batman defiantly never lived in New Jersey. Here is this person who has worked hard to hide his driveway, or secret bat cave, and along comes Mr. Know-It-All and puts up a sign. I think this is highly uncalled for and I think in order to exercise my belief in a right to privacy I will begin to remove these signs and leave them around the police station driveways.

While there are many others I must retrieve my lunch from the microwave and then make sure that I clean I mess. (Because there is a sign that says so!) I love signs that protect people who in nature would become animal food or try to change the behavior of others who don’t care in the first place. What will be the next animal to become self aware?

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

All I can say is "Welcome to Not-Texas!" In the states where it is assumed that people are idiots unless told not to be (Cali, Oregon, NY, NJ, All or New England especially Massachusetts, etc.) they sign up everything. Just remember they love warnings for things that you cannot adjust you life to accomodate. For Example, Warning: There may be harmful materials in this building.

3:06 PM

 
Blogger Emily said...

Holy Crap! How did you find me?? Guess I'd better take down all those "There's an idiot named Jeremy in my program" posts...

12:48 PM

 

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