Before going to work, some may go and grab a large cup of extra-strong black coffee to help mentally prepare themselves for what lies ahead in the office; not me. Before clocking on, I prefer to take some photos.
Aintree, a pleasant residential area in the Merseyside region, is also known for housing the world-famous Grand National race every year at the iconic Aintree Racecourse. But what I discovered was not necessarily something you would expect to find on a suburban street in Aintree.
I found a piece of cardboard on the pavement, covered with the words “TOBACCO IS PUZZLING.” It looked like a DIY street sign someone created on their kitchen table, but why did it appear on the street?
The absolute randomness of coming across those words on a piece of cardboard while going to work is quite extraordinary. Therefore, I decided to take a picture of it for photographic evidence, so when I mentioned to my work colleagues what I saw, they did not automatically think I had taken leave of my senses.
Perhaps it was a one-off incident. It is quite plausible it had accidentally been dropped on the street by someone who possibly works in the creative industries, and, by the power of Mother Nature’s strong winds, the mysterious piece of cardboard landed on various spots around Aintree. Oh, but then, a few days later, ta-dah.
It was clearly not a coincidence — a second one had appeared on the street, confirming that the first incident was part of a pattern.
Someone was deliberately placing these shrouded-in-mystery cardboard signs on the streets of Aintree that include carefully selected words revolving around the topic of smoking.
However, even though the guilty culprit is attempting to make thought-provoking statements on a serious issue for the public to digest, to help their content reach a wider demographic, surely it would be better to explore further afield and place these cardboard signs in more populated areas beyond Aintree. Placing them further afield in busier areas outside Aintree will surely increase the number of people having the opportunity to see the cardboard signs.
The whole purpose of having a sign on the street is to relay information to the public. There is no denying whoever created them has great typography skills. The letters are clear, not overly stylish, thus making the words easily readable.
However, using just a pencil on pieces of white cardboard is frankly quite bland, and therefore, it can’t come as a surprise if many just walked past those amateur signs unnoticed.
Just imagine if the letters were covered with bright colours, such as red or yellow. Yes, enhancing these signs is probably more time-consuming for the person making them, but adding some colour would make the signs more vibrant and consequently grab more people’s attention.
After coming across the third sign on the streets, everything became all too predictable: oh, here is another piece of cardboard on the pavement covered with words that revolve around smoking. The element of surprise had vanished.
It would be great to meet the person of interest and find out more about the reasoning behind their cloak-and-dagger operation. Of course, in any event, they are a very long way away from becoming the next “Banksy”.
It was obvious they had been placed on the pavements during the mornings because there was no wear and tear on the pieces of cardboard when I saw them. Therefore, I considered leaving my house for work earlier than usual so I could quite possibly catch the person of mystery in action. Then I soon realised doing such a thing was too extreme.
I no longer work in Aintree, but I do often wonder if those cardboard signs still appear in the area. Maybe I should go back one day and have a look.
