Sign

[ladyofastolat]

I must have walked past this sign going on a hundred times, but always approaching it from behind and not pausing to look at it. Only today did I actually notice what it said. I am baffled and intrigued. This is at the entrance to a paved path that cuts off a sharp corner on a residential road near the edge of a town, near the sea.

Comments

[leesa_perrie]

I'm now wondering at the story behind the 'no mining' part of it!! Did some dwarves move in after losing their home to Smaug?

[ladyofastolat]

I can't even begin to explain it! Refugee dwarves are as good as explanation as anything else I've been able to come up with. I wonder if they got half price on the ferry...

[leesa_perrie]

LOL! Maybe they blagged that they were children, despite beards and deep voices, because those are just down to a genetic condition they share!! :D

[ylla]

That is really very odd.

I can understand why you might want to ban both these things, but surely not in the same breath?

[ladyofastolat]

I wonder if traffic wardens also issue tickets for illegal mining. If so, what carries a higher fine: returning to your car 15 minutes late after paying for only an hour, or sinking an unlicenced shaft deep into the bowels of the Earth and harvesting diamonds.

[bunn]

... does the island often have problems with driveby miners? It just... suggests that people randomly start mining, in the way they might park for an hour.

There's something a bit Proudfoot about the second sign, and I would quite like to consolidate them.

NO parking, mining, horses, cycling.

FEET ONLY

[ladyofastolat]

I have no idea! While out walking, I have often seen illegal parking. I've seen rogue barbecues on grassland, and out-of-season dogs on beaches. But never have I seen a makeshift mine building, or heard subterranean explosions, or seen gangs of merrily-singing dwarves carting away barrows of gold. But, then, I was once berated by a random person for walking too fast to notice the gentians. Maybe I have also failed to notice the Isle of Wight gold rush.

[thismaz]

Does that mean you're going to have to stop that mining operation you had going on?

[ladyofastolat]

Were I not so law-abiding, it would more likely make me think, "Mining? There's something worth mining here?" and start sinking shafts in the hope of finding diamonds.

Unless they mean sea mines. The sign is only yards from the sea, after all, so maybe they don't want people to park in order to seed to Solent with mines.