The End is Nigh

Another small piece of British history is about to be consigned to the dustbin, Westminster City Council will next month use new legislation to remove sandwich boards from the streets. Unfortunately it's said that the rest of London will soon follow suit, wiping out a colourful form of performance street art. Anybody who has studied any of the weird and wonderful characters who do the job will know what I mean. Under the new laws, sandwich-board men and the companies they advertise face fines of up to £2,500 if they fail to comply with the ban. The change is part of a £10 million plan to improve the so called ambience of the shopping district. It sounds more like a case of joining the rest of the England’s bland cloned high streets to me. Sandwich boards in years gone by were often used to carry spiritual messages with zealous wearers often using them to tell passers-by that the end of the world was nigh, doom was upon us. So finally after all these years they have been proved right, but unfortunately it’s the sandwich board men themselves that are doomed. I only wish that we were allowed to carry advertising on our cabs here in Barrow as they are in the bigger cities. They tell me that big money is to be made using your taxi as a mobile poster, I for one would be up for it, but maybe not a ”The End is Nigh” type poster.