Caution

This is what we do to streetlights in our town.

They look like something horrible happened to them. Maybe they fell foul of a criminal organisation, who chopped them up, bagged their body parts, and dumped them in a public place as a warning to other streetlights.

I find several points to make about these urban stumps.

1. I first had to work it out. These were once streetlights. I only did so thanks to the proximity of the new lights next to them.

2. I realise I have no idea how many weeks discarded streetlights stay like this before they're removed completely from my townscape. (I'd guess that if they were sited on a main tourist route, they'd be gone in 24 hours. Down the back lanes of a small town, might they be here for weeks?)

3. The colour of the bagging tape is yellow, not red. I'm tentatively guessing a yellow colour (like a traffic-light system) is intended to convey hazard rather than outright danger. (Now I'm reassured. I had feared live cables were waiting to electrocute me - and anyone else who associates too freely with streetlights.) I wonder if yellow shines better in the dark in your reversing car window?

4. When I pay more attention to the text, I realise it's like an indication of text. Upside down, partially obscured, these words are almost intended not to be read. The two streetlight stumps seem to carry different texts, too. On one I read CAUTION STREET and on the other, CABLE BELOW LIGHTING. I have no idea whether workers roll these from different sheets of yellow tape, or whether they use one sheet printed with many words.

5. The way these objects are wrapped suggests to me they are not high-status, high-value objects. (Although, to check that, I would have to see how removals people in museums actually bag up Venus de Milo.)

I find it difficult to allocate a category for this type of language on the street. Does it mark History? Our street furniture is so swiftly replaced, and the loss of a historical feature like streetlighting can happen quickly with the allocation of new budgets. Should I mark it as Temporary Signage? But for how many weeks will I pass these stumps? Is it an example of Public Authority at work - our local council demonstrating they have due regard for the safety of vehicle and foot traffic? It's one to mull over.