recently i took a drive to barberton. what a beautiful winding pass. then again everything in the lowveld is beautiful. on the way back i attempted to take the road less travelled going through kaapsehoop (a quaint village on the escarpment that is really worth the visit). in retrospect i shouldn't have done this without a map. i got horribly lost and ended up driving in square circles around mpumalanga. quite a laugh actually.anyway, on this accidental journey, i stopped somewhere between badplaas and machadadorp to take the above photo. this is a phenomenon that had intrigued me for a long time. is this south african or is this a worldwide occurrence? this is commonplace in south africa. this post could just as well have been called somewhere between bloemfontein and tweeling because i'm sure i would find a sign there with the same peculiarity.
if you look carefully, the sigh is suffering from the common south african gunshot wound about which i have blogged on numerous occasions. yes, that's right folks, south africans drive around and shoot sighnposts. not owning a gun myself i can't really say i know why or under what circumstances this occurs, but having driven aroung about the whole country, i can say it is a very common practice.
this is just something that has always tickled my interest. any comments about this practice in other countries would be most appreciated.
Strangely, the phenomenon is not at all rare in rural parts of the US -- nearly universal, even.
ReplyDeleteThe gunshot sign is so common in the rural southern US, I would wonderabout the locals if all the signs were smooth and shiny.
ReplyDelete+1 on it being common in rural USA. Nothing better to do than drink beer, screw, and shoot at signs, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteIt should be said, however, that this is more of a pastime than an indication of a particularly violent or unstable area.