TRACEY BENDINGER | Society | Contact
Collecting street signs is a favourite past time for young men across Australia, but there inevitably comes a time where house matriarchs no longer want their homes to be the storage containers for the countless street signs brought home by their intoxicated sons. For David Ridge (29), that time is now.
“Yeah, Brent, I’m just cleaning out your room at home. D’you still want your David St sign?” asked Mrs. Ridge while on the phone to her son.
“Oh nah, that’s ok thanks, mum” replied Brenton.
“Ok, and what about the stop sign, the BSW Bundy Rum price poster and the double page spread you tore out of FHM?”
“Umm nah, you can chuck all that stuff out too.”
The Advocate understands that this particular kind of petty theft is rife amongst Australian males aged between 13-23, with the Problematic Pilfering Association (PPA) reporting that an astounding 73% of Betoota Council’s yearly budget gets blown on replacing street signs around the city.
“Yes it’s just as you explain it; stop signs, street signs, even a lot of indoor caution signs – slippery when wet, for example.” Said a defeated Derek Voss, chairman at PPA.
“And there’s nothing we can do, we just have to wait until the boys mature, but even then, a new wave follows them.”
According to Derek, the PPA is in contact with the local council to try and organize some kind of decoy signs that are made at a fraction of the cost, making their theft is less significant, or even gifting 14-year-olds a sign of their choice on their birthday.
More to come.
