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Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 6:20 am
by Mr.Gumby
During the midst of the lockdown, last April, people all over the country started to leave signs of life, signs of hope. Often in the form of rocks, painted and left in public places. The idea caught on an big caches of these things can be found along coasts, roadsides and in all sorts of places for all to see. Cries of anguish, messages of hope, art, poetry, mundane and profane thoughts, aforisms straight off the back of Hallmark cards, the odd marriage proposal. But all of it full of humanity.
Here are a few of the rocks left on a sea wall at Clahane on Liscannor Bay, sheltered from the west by the Cliffs of Moher, just south of Hag's Head in Co Clare.
I'll add a few more batches of images later.
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 6:43 am
by Mr.Gumby
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:18 am
by Mr.Gumby
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:16 am
by Dan A.
Some of those turned out really well! I like the cat face and the silly pun "Stone Hinge," and I have to wonder if Sinead said yes. Though, as someone who can't speak a lick of Gaelic (I'd probably horribly butcher the word Feadóg), I've no idea what is inscribed on many of the rocks.
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:31 am
by Mr.Gumby
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:44 am
by Dan A.
Mr.Gumby wrote:It was nice to see these things growing during the lockdown, signs of life and signs of humanity.
I agree wholeheartedly. And we mustn't forget about signs of positivity. Thank you for sharing some of those signs!
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:39 am
by busterbill
Thanks for sharing this. Though I have never been one to appreciate when folks stack or paint rocks in natural places, this, during this time and in this place, seems like just the thing.
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:52 am
by Mr.Gumby
I hate it when you walk into a natural area and find people have put so called
fairy doors into trees etc. Or the idiots who build cairns and little dolmen everywhere because they have a need to post them on social media.
I have come across a few subtle things done by landowners building a drystone wall at field boundaries.
This one is a particularly brilliant one, subtly tucked away well off road:
These lockdown stones are a different sort of thing though. I was thinking about that earlier, on one level it's like the threads people tie to rag trees around here, you take your worries or problems, tie it to a holy/sacred tree and once the thread or fabric rots away, your worries will be gone. There's some of that in this, although there are other elements to it as well.
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:34 pm
by Nanohedron
I found the abundance of creativity delightful. This one, though:
Anyone have an idea what the leftmost rock says between "I" and "lies"? I can't make it out.
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:11 pm
by Mr.Gumby
'I must not tell lies'
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:34 pm
by Nanohedron
Mr.Gumby wrote:'I must not tell lies'
Hmmmm. That's a rather strange bit of personal info, considering.
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:22 pm
by david_h
Great. Thanks for sharing.
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 3:41 am
by Mr.Gumby
Hmmmm. That's a rather strange bit of personal info, considering.
It looks like there was something else there that was erased/painted over. There's a story there, I am sure.
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 6:43 am
by Katharine
Nanohedron wrote:Mr.Gumby wrote:'I must not tell lies'
Hmmmm. That's a rather strange bit of personal info, considering.
It's from Harry Potter.
Re: Signs of locked down life during the pandemic
Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 7:28 am
by Mr.Gumby
Good catch!
Related trivia, the location is a mile or two or three away from 'the cave' in one of the Potter movies. Ofcourseboth the cave and the rock island are CGI creations layered onto the real cliffs.