Street furniture from a holiday ……

There are many ways to share a holiday ….. from picture postcards to instant mobile photos and of course the post trip presi.

Madrid, 2025

And then there are those from my old chum, who knowing my fascination for street furniture and trams will send me regular items for the collection.

So, over the last few years I have added trams from Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and Switzerland, along with heaps of street grids from everywhere.

And having received a sanitation cover from Porto last week he came up  trumps with this delightful one from Madrid, the inscription which runs "Ayuntamiento de Madrid" and "Alumbrado Publico" which roughly translated is “Madrid Town Hall” “Public Lighting” .

I can not better the pictures and have only this sad looking post from outside the Library, which reveals that behind that black layer of resin is a rusting bit of metal.

All of that said, there is an importance to all such street furniture, some of which has long since been relegated to the dustbin of history as technology has made them redundant but still can be striking to look at and have a story.

Chorlton, 2025

I just await his collection of Roman lead pipes and aqueducts.

Location; Madrid, and Chorlton

Pictures; from Madrid courtesy of a chum, 2025 and Chorlton, 2025 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

In Our Time ……..

Location; Beech Road

Picture; In Our Time, 2024, Beech Road. from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Making litter interesting …… the happy story

Now the idea that discarding rubbish in public places is something new ignores the past.

Making litter fun, 2022

The Keep Britain Tidy Campaign was started in 1955, and pictures of Chorlton including the Rec marred by causally dropped litter are there in the historic record from the 1900s.

So good I took it again, 2022

And I bet there was some one in the Roman city of Pompeii on the eve of its destruction in 79 AD who was motivated to dash off a stern letter to the town council on the growing pile of smelly stuff left by customers of the many street takeaway businesses.

Indeed, if I searched long enough, I could find ordinances from the Egyptian authorities who were constantly clearing up after tourists in the Valley of the Kings.

So, with that in mind here is a bit of happy street furniture seen in the Rec yesterday.

Location; the Rec on Beech Road

 Picture; Making litter fun, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Skips make good presents …….

So why not ask for a skip for Christmas?

After all, they will solve your storage problems, and allow your neighbours to show off their discarded household items.

Added to which you can have endless hours of pleasure watching as successive Rag and Bone Men rummage through the half full skip.

And if you are very lucky there may be less in the skip after their visits than before.

Location; Guess

Picture; Skips make good presents, and The Treasures of skip watching, 2022, from the collection of a Skip Lover

101 uses for a traffic cone …. no1…… the football accessory …..

They appeared on the Rec about a fortnight ago.

And the smart money was on them vanishing very quickly.

Either as part of a “tidy the Rec” move or more likely as so often happens, appropriated as playthings and deposited miles away.

But no, as of Sunday they are still there, and while usually they stand upright as goal posts, some time on Saturday night they ended up in their present position.

No doubt over time they will move again and perhaps have new uses.

We shall see.

Location; The Rec

Picture; 101 uses for a traffic cone …. no1……  the football accessory, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

101 ways to use a Chorlton telephone box …..the Calypso one

It’s just a sign of the times.

Once no one would presume to post adverts on the side of a telephone kiosk.

Which was partly because the old fashioned red one with all those tiny windows made it difficult.

Leaving the bold entrepreneur to leave his or her business cards discreetly positioned at eye level inside the box.

But not so now.

Location; Manchester Road

Picture, Calypso Kiosk, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

 

101 ways to use a Chorlton telephone box …..

Today I am thinking about the revolution in communication which has put a mobile phone into almost everyone’s hand and made the humble telephone box almost a thing of the past.

True they have not yet passed into oblivion, if for no another reason than not everyone has their own personal phone.

But I remember the 1980s when competition between BT and Mercury led to a duplication of telephone boxes where the rival companies plonked the boxes down all over the city often right next to each other.

Added to which BT went on an aggressive programme of installing them in multiple units, sometimes within a short walk.

So, on Beech Road, there were two outside the old post office, another two on the corner of Wilton and a bank of them at the bus terminus.

And now this old form of communication seems to be in retreat.

There are fewer of them, they do not seem to be mended as quickly and many have been given over to other uses, from libraries to shops and museums.

Of course, I know that there were more dubious uses for the boxes, and even before their decline, they were the repository of all sorts of cards from those advertising taxis to those inviting the reader to sign up for other services.

Today many stand forlorn and have become victim to heaps of posters which I suppose makes them still in the business of communication, even if the posters are often quite tatty.

Leaving me just to think back to the time when you could dial a song, reverse the charges or just push button B to get your money back.

And if you were in the know, and had that long series of numbers which were allegedly used by GPO engineers to phone the Exchanges you could make a call for free.

Sadly my innate sense of honesty always stopped me ..... that and a serious mistrust that a] it wouldn't work and b] I might somehow get caught.

Location; Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton

Pictures; 101 ways to use a Chorlton telephone box, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Left on Beech Road ...... the street furniture collection

Street furniture takes many forms ........... two from Beech Road, yesterday.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Left on Beech Road ...... street furniture, 2022 from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

Henry V ….. early morning coffee .... and things to come ....

One day, one camera and an early morning walk through Chorlton

Location; Beech Road

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

So just which way should the Chorlton adventurer go?

Promises of adventures yet to come.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Chorlton street furniture, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Street Clutter

Walking Barlow Moor Road








Location; Chorlton

Picture; Zetland Road, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The eyes have it …........

Early morning walk on a Saturday on Barlow Moor Road

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; The Eyes Have It, Image, Barlow Moor Road, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Chorlton’s street furniture ……. No 1, a brush, a bowl and a bike

Nothing more exceptional ……..

Early morning walk on a Saturday on Barlow Moor Road








Location; Chorlton



Pictures; Brushes and bowls, DIY & Household, two bikes, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson