We can’t quite run to the £27,000,000 that Danny Boyle blew on the olympic opening ceremony.  But we do have a Roman Candle left over from last year and I think there’s a pack of sparklers under the stairs somewhere.  Yes…

21st September

is

Telegraph Pole
Appreciation Day

This is a day when we finally look up and notice one of these unseen upright silent sentinels, be it a telephone pole or an electricity pole.  All year long, and in all weathers they perform their duties unflinchingly – holding aloft the wires carrying your telephone calls to your cousin who’s just got engaged; or keeping up the wires delivering the electricity that makes your slim-o-matic adjustable vibrating tv lounger work. All in a day’s work for a telegraph pole.*¹

So, why not organise your own little celebration underneath your local pole.  Maybe have a mini one-person street party with bunting and butterfly cakes and a bottle of pop with a wasp in it.  Or maybe you’re the quiet pensive kind, in which case, just find a pole and gaze upon it in a whimsical needy kind of way – that’s exactly what I’ll be doing this Friday.

 To help you get in the mood, why not visit last year’s posting about this special day and print off the postcard therein.  And tell others about the wonder of telegraph poles while you’re at it.

Meanwhile, if you can’t find a pole of your own, here’s a couple of needy ones that are worth celebrating.  The first is from the lane to Borgie Hotel, off the A836 a few miles west of Tongue, Sutherland. Just think how splendid this would have looked in its heyday.  Secondly, an eclectic electric pole which caught my eye at a village called Tillicoutry. A place so unheard of that even the locals just call it “look, it’s on the A91 near Stirling”.

 

 

*¹ See Disclaimer, telegraph vs electric pole