Battle Against the No Parking Sign
Yesterday evening a mate on a drug trip spent a solid hour, maybe two, on the far corner of our cul-de-sac, pulling up hedges, kicking the ground, and assaulting a "No Parking" sign. At first I thought he was trying to get something off of him, as he kept kicking the ground over and over, till I realized he was not well. He was extremely belligerent toward everything around him, but not in a "constructive destructive" way: He didn't even touch any of the illegally parked cars that were right there. Instead he seemed personally threatened by some of the hedges, and pulled them up and flung them away with considerable force, mainly out into the cul-de-sac. This revealed a great deal a fresh soil, which he obsessively kicked and dragged with his feet till his corner of the sidewalk was spread under an even coating of brown. Over the course of the ordeal he stripped off most of his clothing. At one point he stopped to pee, making little allowance for the fact that he was peeing in his sandbox. He also spent time sweeping the dirt evenly onto the sidewalk and even the street with a makeshift broom from the hedge bits he'd torn up.
But mostly he went on with the traffic sign: He pulled it out of the ground and kept trying so hard to beat up that poor sign, which is a metal card on a metal pole, to minimal avail: pounding it into the ground, stomping it, punching it, throwing it into the bushes, pulling it out of the bushes to beat it up some more, throwing it back into the bushes. It wasn't enough for him to defeat the sign once; he had to do it over and over. With all the strength he could muster, he threw that sign into the bushes dozens of times, before finally throwing it over a cliff after it started getting too dark to see.
He didn't seem angry per se. It seemed to me like he was trying to purge demons that wouldn't go away, but for all I know he was having the time of his life. Either way, he didn't make a single peep, and there was no expression on his face other than stark single-mindedness. That's why I didn't call the police or an ambulance. He wasn't hurting himself or anyone else, and wasn't in any evident medical distress, and I'm pretty wary of calling the police if it isn't needed.
I'll report the damaged sign to the City once I can be fussed to take a photo.
I imagine the sign either had a very fun time, or not much fun at all.
But mostly he went on with the traffic sign: He pulled it out of the ground and kept trying so hard to beat up that poor sign, which is a metal card on a metal pole, to minimal avail: pounding it into the ground, stomping it, punching it, throwing it into the bushes, pulling it out of the bushes to beat it up some more, throwing it back into the bushes. It wasn't enough for him to defeat the sign once; he had to do it over and over. With all the strength he could muster, he threw that sign into the bushes dozens of times, before finally throwing it over a cliff after it started getting too dark to see.
He didn't seem angry per se. It seemed to me like he was trying to purge demons that wouldn't go away, but for all I know he was having the time of his life. Either way, he didn't make a single peep, and there was no expression on his face other than stark single-mindedness. That's why I didn't call the police or an ambulance. He wasn't hurting himself or anyone else, and wasn't in any evident medical distress, and I'm pretty wary of calling the police if it isn't needed.
I'll report the damaged sign to the City once I can be fussed to take a photo.
I imagine the sign either had a very fun time, or not much fun at all.