Sign of the Times
Posted on April 7, 2019 Posted by John Scalzi 17 Comments
My friend Olivia came to visit Ohio for a few days, and so I showed her the sights of the area, including this particular traffic sign, meant to alert automobile travelers that this particular road is frequented by Amish buggies, so they should be aware of them. To Olivia’s disappointment we did not see any buggies this particular trip, and I was taking her to the airport to return home. But then I saw three buggies on the way home. The Amish, they hide, apparently.
I took this picture because I think there’s something resonant about someone taking a picture of a traffic sign about very old technology, and taking that picture using very modern technology. And of course I used my own cell phone to take this photo, so here we are. Techception.
So I can view, on my phone, a photo taken by your phone of your friend using her phone to photograph a traffic sign about horse-drawn buggies, and cars headed towards the vanishing point, under an ominous sky. BTW, the buggies are probably all parked behind the house on the right, waiting for your friend to go.
It’s Sunday, they were at church at someone’s house. You caught them all on the way home.
My favorite Amish buggy story is the time we were up in Shipshewana in northern Indiana and stopped at a convenience story where some folks in a buggy had stopped as well. Gorgeous horse, too.
My “taking a picture of a sign” story is when I took a picture of the “Tsunami Route” sign in San Diego. I didn’t want to live somewhere that needed a Tsunami Route.
Is that already a sign of the Singularity?
Actually, their fellowship meetings are usually on Saturday, and yup, that’s exactly what happened.
I know, it’s like something straight out of “Firefly.” Gorram buggies.
Now looking for my old film camera to take a picture of this.
I’ll never forget the comment by my Irish friend while showing her the sights around Lancaster, PA, also home to a large Amish community – “It’s like a human zoo!”.
I remember when the first camera phones came out, I thought, “man… Imagine having a phone, camera, and GPS all in one!”
Now we have so much more, and I just take it for granted.
I just ordered a pizza with an app on my smartphone, and I’m sitting in a parking garage and looking at a picture of a buggy sign on your blog while I wait for the notification that my pizza is ready.
No flying cars, but the future is pretty cool.
And now my pizza is ready. Life is good.
Am i the only who finds the buggy on the sign weird in a Steampunk kind of way?
The only way this could be better is if you were sitting in an Amish buggy while you took this photograph.
Seek and you shall not find.
Wait and the world goes the other way.
Find something else to do and what you seeked shall find you.
I not only remember those signs well, I remember being a fairly new driver and being somewhat terrififed I was going to hit one every time I came over a rise on state route 3 in central Ohio.
In the UK we have road signs warning of Deer. In 40 odd years of driving I have yet to see one. Although once parked at layby, a deer came out of the bush and bashed into my car before rushing off again. They should have signs in the woods warning Deer of motor cars.
I dunno man. I’ve never seen a buggy that looks like that. It looks more like a third stage guild navigator than anything.
https://art.ngfiles.com/images/464000/464186_emperormax_edric-third-stage-guild-navigator.jpg
What in the hell is going on in ohio?
The Amish in our area used the orange red safety triangles on their buggies. You could tell which buggies were used by teenagers because the triangles were significantly larger.
https://i.imgur.com/PNJMnO1_d.jpg
Weirdest looking buggy ive ever seen