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May 4th, 2018: Manhole Porn
Do you know why manhole covers are round? Because a round cover can’t fall in the hole.
Mostly they are mass produced by the lowest bidder(or someone’s brother-in-law), and are all the same. That cuts costs and discourages “collectors”
But there are exceptions. Japan seems to be an exception.
Then there’s Germany which loves to over engineer stuff making it difficult and expensive to produce. Instead of having a man climb down a ladder they build it like a wine cellar… or a dungeon.
link
Carruthers Friday May 4 05:05 AM
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour party, is an operculist.
No, that's not a term likely to result in my being served a writ for defamation, he's a drain spotter. Yes, really.
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For years, the nation’s devoted admirers of drains and manhole covers lacked a really high-profile representative. Not any more: Jeremy Corbyn’s bold admission that he likes to photograph drain covers, despite the fact that “people think it’s little odd”, has put drains and the people who love them in the spotlight. Mr Corbyn’s admiration for drain covers is widely shared, it seems. There are clubs dedicated to the hobby and several Facebook groups that discuss the finer points of cast-iron street furniture. Drain-spotting is a broad church. Mr Corbyn might prefer manhole covers, but others favour drain gratings and some have a thing for the iron coverings of coal-holes. |
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Drain-spotting is not a new hobby. An article published in a newspaper in the United States in 1962 declares that Britain “is full of operculists”, a term derived from operculum, meaning fish gill cover. The article also noted that the poet and art dealer Victor Musgrave actually collected coal-hole covers “like some people collect Picassos”. “My object,” said Musgrave as he showed off 40 of his choicest specimens at a gallery in Mayfair in 1962, “is to force people to look at coal-hole covers and to admire them. After all, our streets are full of them, and children use them for hopping and jumping games. “Yet the average person never even notices them. Not until he steps into a coal-hole that is supposed to be covered and breaks his leg.” |
It's often said, principally by outside observers, that the Brits are a hobby obsessed bunch.
If two or more people have an interest in some pastime or other, there's likely to be a magazine, club or internet group catering for it.
Hundreds of shelf feet of magazines devoted to hobbies of every stripe and hue can be found in any branch of W H Smith or McColl's.
I was a deltiologist for some years. Keep that to yourself, won't you?
Carruthers Friday May 4 07:49 AM
Apologies are due. I've just realised that I have attributed the above article to the Guardian and not the Independent.
Oh well, that's another solicitor's letter on the way...
xoxoxoBruce Friday May 4 08:29 AM
Now there's a cultural difference. In England hearing from a solicitor is a bad thing. In the US contact with solicitor in a good thing. 
glatt Friday May 4 08:42 AM
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Originally Posted by Carruthers
Oh well, that's another solicitor's letter on the way...
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I like the German one. It doubles as a barricade to keep pedestrians from falling down the hole. I have to wonder though if those segments lock open or can they slam down on the guy coming up the stairs if something bumps into them?
Griff Friday May 4 08:50 AM
I wonder if it's more secure as well? Don't the actually weld our manholes shut when big shots come around?
phelps Friday May 4 11:54 AM
For a good example of the German style in action, watch The Third Man by Orson Wells, set in post-war Vienna.
To go into detail would be to spoil some plot points, but the movie is one of the greatest of all time, and is my favorite film noir.
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