I must confess that old telephone poles fascinate me. They're always covered with battle scars from days long past and I can't help but wonder where they came from. If they were old men they would sit you down on their knees and tell you with much exaggeration about the great war and their unfortunate accidents with pocket knives as kids.
They would show off their reflective badges for merit and bravery with stories of their various posts overseas and the planes they shot down over Germany under cover of darkness. But unfortunately they don't speak and I'm left wondering.
I imagine that many of the staples and nails originally held garage sale signs. There seem to be many garage sales around here in the summer months. Is it just that people have a lot of junk or do they need money? The number of pawnshops and thrift stores invading the neighbourhood cries out for the latter answer.
But what about the others? Some no doubt were signs beckoning to passersby with claims of deceptively easy weight loss. You know the type, the sheet of 8and1/2 by 11 paper with the pulloff tabs at the bottom. Perhaps some of the nails were used to hold up those vague offers of employment that are so common on telephone poles around high schools.
Maybe they held notices of community events, though on that particular corner, in that particular neighbourhood, I am not sure what those would be. It is more likely that there were once posters there calling the faithful to church picnics.
Perhaps some form or other of hastily removed slander?
I will never know.
The balloon puzzles me.
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