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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think that no town has a more bizarre landmark than the arse end of a shark stcking out of the roof of a semi?

110 replies

MakesCakesWhenStressed · 01/05/2013 08:51

...Because seriously, I can't imagine what it might be.

Was directed to this recently and have been goggling ever since.

Personally I'm not sure it can be beaten.

"Excuse me, but which way to the bus stop?"
"Oh it's just down there, turn right at the house with the shark arse sticking out of it and it's just on your left"

OP posts:
Tee2072 · 01/05/2013 08:53

Well, Belfast does have A Big Fish but it doesn't stick out of a semi.

I think I'm disappointed...

McKayz · 01/05/2013 08:56

Whitby has a polar bear on top of Holland and Barretts here

But no not as wierd as a shark sticking out of a house.

dexter73 · 01/05/2013 09:01

That shark in Oxford is brilliant. My brother used to live in the next road and I used it to remember where he lived!

Tee2072 · 01/05/2013 09:02

OMG a giant marlin on a roof!

Closing in on the shark...

GoblinGranny · 01/05/2013 09:05

I lived opposite the Penultimate Picture Palace when I was a student. Somehow student life seemed more exciting back then, DD's experience is quite different.
oxford.tab.co.uk/2013/02/21/local-legend-bill-heine/

ElleMcFearsome · 01/05/2013 09:09

Umm... It is saying something about CND, nuclear power, Chernobyl and Nagasaki Really???

MmeLindor · 01/05/2013 09:17

We have the Worst Poem in The World carved into our pavement in Dundee, but think the shark is hard to beat.

I am willing to rise to the challenge though, and find a more bizarre one.

OnTheBottomWithAWomansWeekly · 01/05/2013 09:23

We've got a Virgin Mary with Ave Maria in blue neon across the archof the little grotto. V interesting at Christmas as it is right beside the village Christmas tree (combination of lights).

AJBthesecond · 01/05/2013 09:25

Just up the road from said shark is a fish and chip shop with quite a big fish (about 5 foot) above the door. A large group if Japanese tourists had stopped and were taking photos there the other day. I politely directed them to the original!

Noseynoonoo · 01/05/2013 09:28

I remember when the shark went up - what a furore, and I always loved the big hands of the penultimate picture palace.

I think having life-sized Dinosaurs in the park is pretty impressive. I was walking my children back from the childminders and they said that they had been playing with Dinosaurs. In my mind these Dinosaurs were plastic toys that would fit in their hand. Then they corrected me and said they were real ones, massive ones. Hmmm, really? Hmm

Imagine my surprise then when I came across life-size dinosaurs in the park: HERE. To be fair, I was new to the area.

Fenton · 01/05/2013 09:31

Giant Cock on a roundabout

It even has its own FaceBook page.

Shock
ArbitraryUsername · 01/05/2013 09:34

They used to have a life sized T-Rex in the grounds of Glasgow university. I think it's tail got broken from students swinging on it/trying to ride it.

MmeL: that poem is atrocious.

DeWe · 01/05/2013 09:35

Always amused me when I drove past it.

BlueSkySunnyDay · 01/05/2013 09:38

I always loved the wicker man that used to sit next to the M6

I remember the dinosaurs from when I was a child, good to know they are still there!

HeathRobinson · 01/05/2013 09:42

Ha, I remember going to see the shark when I worked in Oxford. Good to see it again.

FeckOffCup · 01/05/2013 09:43

To balance the awful poem out, Dundee also has a statue of local celebrity Desperate Dan in the city centre <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=www.drookitagain.co.uk/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/normal_Desperate_Dan.jpg&imgrefurl=www.drookitagain.co.uk/coppermine/displayimage.php?pid%3D1137&h=400&w=677&sz=73&tbnid=mwfPDmifw9_-SM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=125&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddesperate%2Bdan%2Bdundee%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=desperate+dan+dundee&usg=__x2mlp58vtCbZyze6hBANlVXoCm4=&docid=0vM7Lq4xS04NoM&sa=X&ei=v9SAUcTTEMaiiQKZ94DgBQ&ved=0CEUQ9QEwBA" rel="nofollow" target="blank">www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=www.drookitagain.co.uk/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/normal_Desperate_Dan.jpg&imgrefurl=www.drookitagain.co.uk/coppermine/displayimage.php?pid%3D1137&h=400&w=677&sz=73&tbnid=mwfPDmifw9-SM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=125&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddesperate%2Bdan%2Bdundee%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=desperate+dan+dundee&usg=__x2mlp58vtCbZyze6hBANlVXoCm4=&docid=0vM7Lq4xS04NoM&sa=X&ei=v9SAUcTTEMaiiQKZ94DgBQ&ved=0CEUQ9QEwBA.

I've not seen the pavement poem when I was in Dundee, is it part of the new regeneration at the riverside?

Binkyridesagain · 01/05/2013 09:44

There were proposals to have statues of Wallace and Gromit placed at the entrance to our city, they went by the wayside, sadly. I think they would have made a cracking landmark.

We did get a statue of a man that looked like he was pissing in the canal, he's gone now, the rust killed him. Sad

CPtart · 01/05/2013 09:50

Binky, I'm in your city too! Didn't realise the pissing man was gone.

IsaacCox · 01/05/2013 09:53

I used to love seeing that shark when visiting family in Oxford.

Binkyridesagain · 01/05/2013 09:55

CPtart, I know the pissing man disappeared because of the rust, I don't know if he's back, I will have to go and look. We don't do landmarks very well do we.

mouseymummy · 01/05/2013 09:56

The only thing that the town I was born in has is the first ever gibbet...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Gibbet

Not really on a par with the shark....

mouseymummy · 01/05/2013 09:57

Ah crap... en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Gibbet

CPtart · 01/05/2013 09:59

No. My DS class had to make a model of a well known landmark for guild year and all they could come up with was variations of Deepdale fc, the Harris museum, the cenotaph and Bruciani's cafe!!