It’s a sign

Michael

There is an account on Instagram, Ian the Sign Guy (ianthesignguy), who posts short videos of himself cleaning road signs in England. (He is also on YouTube.) There is no background music, you rarely see him. The videos are just his brush scrubbing away the filth that accumulates in roadside traffic signs. Here is an example. I think it’s one of the greatest things on the internet today. Sort of a new go at cat videos.

Do I want to explain that? Sure. Why not? There is nobody screaming at you. No UNHINGED USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS, or ridiculously obvious lies to wade through. It’s not an innocent looking post trying to get you to buy something, agree with something, or watch and re-watch over and over to find the hidden meaning. It’s just a guy scrubbing away the dirt and grime of your basic traffic control signage.

I don’t recall ever seeing signs here as filthy as he finds there. Some of his pre-cleaned signs are barely legible, yet they seem to be on some major roadways. I suppose we haven’t yet stripped the Department of Transportation’s personnel budget of the sign scrubbers. It’s quite satisfying to watch the dirt melt away, to see the brush go scrub scrub scrub over the sign surface, and to hear the faint drone of whatever equipment he uses to get the water flowing through the brush head. I could watch video after video and be quite content with it and nothing more. A cat video for the 2020’s.

We need more of these. Yes, it is an unexpected joy to have a random Muppets video show up in your feed, and a daily dose or three of old Peanuts cartoons will surely turn surfing snarls into smiles. But no, they aren’t the sign guy, a real-life person out to make his part of his country a little cleaner so his fellow motorists can tell where they are going or how fast they should be going while getting there. It’s a new twist on “love your neighbor.”

Or perhaps he is the new superhero. Not a Superman dumped on our planet to avoid complete annihilation on his. Not a Spider-Man or a Hulk who happened to be around the wrong radioactive insect or experiment. Not like Aquaman getting the best genes from a human father and an Atlantilean mother. More like Batman, just a normal guy who happens to be incredibly wealthy and has a cool costume. I don’t know if Ian is incredibly wealthy, but on the rare occasion you get to see his work clothes, they seem to be top shelf.

It’s worth it to spend a few minutes or hours watching Ian tirelessly make England’s Motorways Glow Again. And no stupid red hat either.

11 thoughts on “It’s a sign”

  1. Oh my goodness. Altogether satisfying! Thank you for the introduction. There are days…especially now…where witnessing honest work and task completion is like a tonic. 🥰😜🥰

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    1. Aha! that’s it! Seeing somebody follow through. That must be why I find it so fascinating. He actually completes the task. A novel concept today.

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    1. thank you! It is comforting. It goes to what Vicki said, honest work and a task completed. A sticktoitness we see less and less and certainly very seldom on the Internet.

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  3. What a delight! Simple, hard-working, and persistent in the task he’s taken on. I love that he’s posted these videos- they remind us of what’s significant in life. These little things are big things for those who are driving England’s roadways. I appreciate the take on “love your neighbor”. Sometimes all we have to do is show up and clean up. Leave things a little better than we found them.

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    1. I think if you’re going to waste some time scrolling, he’s one of the positives you can find out there. Ally tagged it as weirdly satisfying. I think he’s unexpectedly joyful.

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