Danger Pond!

A PLEASANT STROLL AROUND THE PONDS OF QUEEN’S PARK SEEMED LIKE A DELIGHTFUL IDEA UNTIL THIS SCARY SIGN WAS NOTICED.

[Double left click on the image to enlarge, as always]

The picture I took shows a pond with a sign sticking out of it.  The sign simply says:

“DANGER
BLUE
GREEN
ALGAE”

What on earth does that mean?  Will this Blue Green Algae rise up from the depths and grab us by the ankles to drag us off to the deep?

Perhaps it just means we have a slip hazard — that blue green algae is slippery. Thing is, I could not see anything slippery on the paths.

What the devil is Blue Green Algae? Is it a dust? a liquid?  A winged serpent? What ought I be looking out for?  Will it fall from the trees? will it run after us? Is it blue or green — or blue-green — or do they mean it is both blue and green (that both the blue and the green varieties are dangerous)?

Yes, things are getting worse when signs strike fear into English-speaking passers-by.

Just Another Hero?

WHAT IS GOING ON THE MINDS OF TOY MAKERS? Is it that they have run out of inspiration, or are they being controlled by the politically-correct brigade?

Just look at this toy (double left click on the image to enlarge).

It is called “MALE NURSE ACTION FIGURE” and includes a stethoscope and an x-ray clipboard! The tag line is: Physicians prescribe, Nurses provide!

Wait – a Male nurse action figure? Action? irrespective of gender, what on earth is going on? can a nurse really be the inspiration for an action figure? Am I missing something in my career as a ninja marine? This toy is actually worse than The Office Worker Action Figure I posted about back in July 2008.

Things are definitely getting worse when children want to get their excitement from male nursing. Hey, maybe they are all meant to be choking hazards so that you can heroically do the “Heimlich”.

Lidl Logic

I WAS AMAZED AT A POSTER FOR LAMPS  SPOTTED IN A LOCAL SUPERMARKET.

Double left click on the image to enlarge — as ever

In case you cannot see the picture, it states:

Philips
Energy Saving
Light Bulb
* Bayonet Cap
*Screw Cap
49p each.

Under this, on a yellow background, it states:

5 for 50p

Now, this is pretty amazing when you stop to think about it; one costs 49p, but FIVE  costs just ONE PENNY more!  Who on Earth would ever buy just one?

Things are getting worse when a shop will allow someone to buy a single lamp at a comparatively extortionate price — why couldn’t the shop just sell the lamps for 10p each and be done with it? People who just need one could buy just one, and people who want 5 could get 5, and everyone pays the same price. It’s not rocket science.

Not an Exit

THIS IS A VERY STRANGE SCENE INDEED. We are grateful to have been sent this photograph; it shows very well that there are two main ways to approach a change of plan, namely: (i) that the original signs be removed, covered or replaced in favour of a new sign, or (ii) that a new, contradictory, sign be added to create utter confusion.

The option is also known as (a) sensible versus (b) daft. My, how things are getting worse!

No Parking Reason

THE SIGN IS PLAIN; IT STATES “NO PARKING” AND “24 HOUR ACCESS”.

The sign uses a nice clear font, black lettering on white, and a good size too — able to be read from the car — no need to park and get out to read this sign!

It contains all the relevant information — no threats of clamping, towing away or a fine.  It is quite to the point and succinct — until you spot the tiny yellow warning triangle at the top right corner.

Know, you do have to park, get out and go up to see what this is about.

How bizarre is that?  The warning triangle has a drawing of a running child, a trike and a ball along with a garage door that seems to be opening and closing at the same time.

As far as I am aware, this is not in the “Highway Code”, so someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to think up this sign and use it in this strange manner.

It may be that the sign maker had a sudden panic; what if non-English speakers wanted to park their car, the sign would not be understood!  This warning triangle seems like an after-thought. It is not a proper size to be seen from a short distance!

Oddly, there is a no-parking sign in the “Highway Code”, which begs the question — why didn’t they just use that instead?

Clearly, they wanted to provide reasons, using illustration.  However, this child and his toys do not really explain the requirement for 24 hour access!

Things are getting worse when we invent road signs that cannot be easily seen nor understood.

Council Cleaning Con

THE CITY COUNCIL ALWAYS AMAZES ME BY THEIR SHIRKING OF RESPONSIBILITY.

Take this poster for example.  Double left click on the image to enlarge.

This is a poster in a charity chop window on Kilmarnock Rd (which is the main street in Shawlands). It is about so-called “Community cleaning of a lane”.

Yes, it is advertising the fact that the council wants local residents to clean their own streets and lane.  Hey, isn’t that what we pay council tax for?

Things are getting worse when the council can take council tax from us, and then get us to do the work ourselves! How Bizarre!

UFO Parking Bay

I SAW A VERY STRANGE THING IN THE CAR PARK OF THE ASDA SUPERMARKET IN GOVAN LAST NIGHT.

Normally (in my personal experience), supermarket car parks contain car parking bays and places for stacking up shopping carts.

Determining the one from the other is fairly straightforward; the bays for the carts have a trolley or two and rails at the sides to demarcate the region and to prevent damage to cars parked in the bays each side.

However, if you double left click on the image, you will see that this is a zone that is completely enclosed!  A trolley could not be wheeled in, and a car, pram or bike cannot be parked there — so this begs the question: what is this all about?

Things are getting worse when valuable parking space is wasted for no apparent reason. How bizarre! The only answer we can come up with is for UFOs.

Guttered

THE COUNCIL ARE SPENDING MILLIONS INSULATING COUNCIL HOUSES.

The trouble is that they are not doing a very good job where the council property meets a privately owned property as shown in the picture to the right.

As ever, double left click on pictures to enlarge.

The above picture shows that it is not confined to new meeting old — even when dealing with a new-new interface, they have screwed this up! What you are looking at are two examples of stupidity.  The rainwater gutter could have been trimmed shorter to allow a full and proper rendering, but instead, the full original length was allowed to remain unchanged, and the insulation and new rendering cut around it!

This is completely unbelievable, it creates a heat bridge and one of the most likely sources of damp in a building I have ever seen. Things are certainly getting worse!

Plague of Leaflets

TARGETING YOUR MARKET IS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD FOR BUSINESS. However, evermore companies are choosing to use customers as targets.

I hate these leaflets, and I don’t understand why it is so popular.  A person puts a sales leaflet under parked car’s windscreen wipers in the hope that it will drum up business.

Please double left click on the images to enlarge

However, what actually happens is that it annoys the car owner –  they have to scrape the wet paper that has stuck to the glass. They cannot drive away and use their windscreen wipers until this job is done.

It is especially bad on an expensive car, and it can reveal to a thief, for example, how long the car has been parked there.

Thing are definitely getting worse!

Please double left click on the images to enlarge

Fizz! Theft of a Logo!

ONE THING THAT HAS ALWAYS ANNOYED ME ABOUT SKYPARK IN GLASGOW IS THAT THEY HAVE BLATANTLY STOLEN THE LOGO FROM PEPSI.

I suppose that it doesn’t matter now that Pepsi Cola have changed their logo, but still, I am just amazed.

The above pictures show the famous Pepsi Logo with the word “Pepsi” at the top. The background seems not to be important; the logo is still th elogo whether the background is blue or white.  In fact, if you look closer, it is clear that there is condensation and more photoreality in one over the other.

The positioning of the word “Pepsi” equally seems unimportant — here it is at the bottom for a change…

There are plenty of examples of the Pepsi logo without the word being used at all!

What I am trying to show here is that the logo is the s-shape in a circle.

The Skypark logo is the same s-shape within a circle — and they have it everywhere in all colours and shades.  Can it really be down to the absence of red or the slight tilt? Things are getting worse if it is!

I don’t think so — and the representation of the logo in wrought iron and etched glass renders this logo identical to that of the fizzy pop maker.  Fancy that!