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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
MakesCakesWhenStressed · 01/05/2013 11:54

But why does the willy have a man inside it?

OP posts:
MakesCakesWhenStressed · 01/05/2013 11:54

Oh yes - and we love the truly arty reasons given for the shark, too.

OP posts:
BrittaPie · 01/05/2013 12:02

Preston people!

Help us out - we are meant to have landmarks on Mumsnet Preston, but we are having a bit of trouble... Does the bus station count?

Mumsnet Preston

OnTheBottomWithAWomansWeekly · 01/05/2013 12:22

I think the Floozy was also known as the Slapper in the Crapper (as the fountain she floated in was alway full of rubbish)

The Hags with the Bags are still down Liffey Street afaik.

Oh, and when we had a Millenium Clock in the Liffey River, counting down to the year 2000, it was known as the Time in the Slime.

seeker · 01/05/2013 12:23

OP- have you been to Cerne Abbas? Grin

ZZZenagain · 01/05/2013 12:26

quite like the nose diving shark

WhatchaMaCalllit · 01/05/2013 12:34

I had forgotten about the clock in the river. I mean who puts a clock in a not-so-clean river and expects it to work??? Ah yes. the Irish! LOL!!!

BrittaPie · 01/05/2013 12:43

lets try that link again...

Limelight · 01/05/2013 12:48

We have the Catford Cat in Southeast London:

roamingthegooglestreets.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/catford-cat-giant-cat-on-wall.html?m=1

The designers of Catford town centre were clearly nothing if not literal.

I wager that it is the most shockingly massive weird looking plastic cat in the world!

seeker · 01/05/2013 12:49

Whenever we drive past that cat somebody has to say "anyone fancy an evening at Catford dogs?"

Oh how we laugh.....

MakesCakesWhenStressed · 01/05/2013 12:59

Seeker - nope. Is it worth a visit?

OP posts:
Flosshilde · 01/05/2013 13:12

Planning permission was indeed required for the shark and it actually has it's own section (entitled 'The Shark Case' Grin) in one of the most commonly used reference works for planners. Written with a dry sense of humour as well.

christmasmum · 01/05/2013 13:27

I live by a really bizarre one in scotland. I have no idea what it is but if you google 'dollar Clackmannanshire topiary' and do an image search you'll find something which can only be described as hitler topiary which sits on top of a hedge in a really posh little scottish town. Have NEVER understood it.

ScrambledSmegs · 01/05/2013 13:32

Hungerford had an 18ft penis drawing on a roof. Sadly it wasn't visible from the ground, but Google Earth got some good shots.

Big cock

LRDtheFeministDragon · 01/05/2013 14:00

Grin at the Dundee poem. Chester-le-Street has a really shit one carved into black granite in the main square, all about coal as 'black gold'. No irony there, then.

'9 O'clock, Sock!' always makes me think of (bad) clubbing as a teen.

Oxford also has this: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackhall_Road,Oxford-_dinosaurs.JPG

What makes it special is it's been re-chalked in religiously for, oh, I dunno, upwards of forty years now?!

MmeLindor · 01/05/2013 14:26

Hitler topiary is excellent. Thanks for that one.

Lizzids · 01/05/2013 15:00

Fenton I live near that cock. It gets seasonal decorations as well - a santa hat & beard for Christmas, Easter bonnet etc.

I also used to live near this building. Sad thing is it used to be a lovely house with a fountain in the garden. Oh well, takes all sorts...

Binkyridesagain · 01/05/2013 15:41

Preston bus station is a landmark, it actually was placed on the presigous world monument list, alongside the Nazca lines in Peru and a cemetary in greece (according to the daily fail anyway)

What preston also has is this www.flickr.com/photos/sgwarnog/sets/72157627125501798/detail/ who ever designed them needs shooting.

seeker · 01/05/2013 15:43

If you haven't already, google images Cerne Abbas. You can see the giant from the town.

BrittaPie · 01/05/2013 15:47

I quite like the martyrs, although it is alarming how many of my friends hadn't noticed it was:
A) some people
B) getting shot

DystopianReality · 01/05/2013 15:53

I lived in N0.50 New High Street, same street in the 90's. I walked past it every single day and loved the eccentricity.

Binkyridesagain · 01/05/2013 15:53

Britta, The matyrs look like lumps of rock with faces, and why, when there were 4 shot, are there only 3 shown? I'm sure they could have come up with something a little bit more appealing if they had thought about it.

DystopianReality · 01/05/2013 15:54

I now live near Cerne Abbas!

ArbitraryUsername · 01/05/2013 16:01

Is that one of those cow parade cows on the balcony of that house, lizzids? It's a pretty crap one if it is.