Reading signs

Always take the opportunity to read signs. Here’s one I found on my travels.

Sign just off Hall Street in Wellington

It’s a very functional sign, devoid of hyperbola or ceremony. It speaks nothing of the time this road took to make, the amount of labour effort which went into it, nor the loss of whatever it was that was there before.

But can you imagine what the day must have been like back on the 31 May 1978, when the prime minister opened this section of road?

There would have been crowds and press and public sector flunkies from the Department of Works present.

It would have been a big thing.

And now, I’m probably the only person who has read this sign in years …

Signs deserves respect. And they should also say more.

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