Monday, July 28, 2008

Motorcycle Miles: Postcards from the Side of the Road

Did I see what I thought I saw?

Yesterday at noon I slowed my motorcycle about one mile north of New Sarum and did a u-turn.

Coffee and lunch at Shutters at the Beach in Port Bruce could wait for 5 more minutes.

One hundred meters away stood a lone telephone pole.

No hydro or phone wires were attached to the pole but there were other things on it that caught my eye.


[Wanted: 25 glass insulators in very good condition]

All I need is a friend with a ladder and we could collect enough insulators to make 50 bucks at a yardsale.

Maybe 75 if we pulled in 3 bucks apiece.

Got a ladder?

[Click here to see other monochrome photographs]

.

5 comments:

smarmoofus said...

Wow... how tall was that pole? I could find a ladder... Nice capture, GH.

-smarmoofus

Mojo said...

(Don't let her kid you... Smoofus could probably shinny right up that pole.) That's pretty amazing. Abandoned buildings I've seen, but abandoned utility poles?

On another note, I'm trying to spread some love around today. Maybe this falls in the category of "self-promotion", but really I'm just trying to gather some good karma for a friend who could really use it right now.
Can you take a moment to visit here and share some?
shukriya.

G. Harrison said...

smarmoofus, i've always liked insulators; my dad collected a few and passed them around to his children.

but i snagged the real prize; after a tornado tore through my home town in 2000 I helped clean up dad's property and because new wiring was needed on the house, i snipped off old wiring and the ceramic insulator attached.

i'll head out to my shed to take a pic.

and mojo, abandoned railway lines are everywhere and adjacent poles are liberally scattered around; rails get lifted for use in other locations but the poles seem to get left behind.

one short ladder is all we need; Canadian poles have foot pegs starting at 8 feet off the ground.

time to visit your link,

cheers,

gord h.

Anonymous said...

Um, I'm a newbie from England. What's the big deal about these insulators?

And how do I acquire some of those wonderful birdboxes at shed prices?

G. Harrison said...

hi jesse,

i think various insulators went through a "collectibles" phase; there were different colours of glass (pink, blue, green, charcoal etc.) and they fit nicely on a window sill and catch the light.

there are now so many floating about that 2 - 3 bucks is a common price now.

the shed is open most days of the week as I work on a few orders (LP album and CD frames this week); so, if you live in London I'll email you my street address. if from out of town, we'll have to talk further to see if a connection can be made.

cheers, GAH