To think that postbox toppers are an aberration and those who produce them should be shot at dawn (I should say 'light hearted' here but it goes against the grain)

[IrateAndUnhinged]

That really.

Postbox toppers. Those crocheted monstrosities decorating every postbox within a 500 metres of GAILS bakery.

Why?

My AIBU is am I unreasonable for thinking they add no value to life and represent a huge drain on resources that could be better put to work creating reusable string bags.

Following this purely for the pictures. Some of the toppers are mental. The seagull and chips one 😆

There used to be a group of guerrilla knitters in Whitstable whose efforts popped up all over the place. I particularly liked the bike. They called themselves Knitstable I believe, or something similar!

Waitrose sells Gail's bakery bread for a small fortune

All these people who know Gail's - WHERE ARE THEY BASED?

Reading the room I think this is a wise move.

Vile.
I live reasonably close to Sandringham.
It seems like every week another royalist frother puts some shite on a rural box.
I would get my lighter out, but appreciate that someone has spent £££ and time creating an abomination

What is this obsession with (also rather middle class) string bags?! What if I don’t want or need a string bag that my things will fall out of? Doesn’t that then become a massive waste of resources too? Access to public art and community crafts is endlessly more beneficial to peoples wellbeing than some string bags. Aren’t wet woolly bags on the same level as wet postbox toppers?

This need for everything to be functional is all very dystopian. It’s possible for an item to be carbon neutral and biodegradable but at the same time to bring joy to the lives of the people who made it and/or who see it whilst remaining wonderfully superfluous.

Places where people have more money than sense and endless leisure time which they choose to devote to pulling plastic wool through loops in the quest of 'art'.

I like them. I smile each time I see one and they cheer up the place a bit 😁

You are missing the point OP. If these people are busy crocheting indoors then they aren't rampaging round the streets causing mayhem every night. The police have enough to do without following them around watching them poke their sharp things in people or throwing wool at houses.

I didn't wake up one day, learn origami from YouTube and then start to decorate my local street furniture with laughing frogs.
That's a pity. I would love to see laughing frogs everywhere. I think you need to take over a crochet circle and get them origaming

Has anyone told the sheep this? They need to come inside!

What the hell is a postbox topper? Are people really knitting woolly hats for postboxes?

If those existed anywhere near me. they would be set on fire by teenagers. You must all live in very naice places.

I utterly loath them. It is impossible to make them not look like an illustration from a really dreadful book for toddlers. Post boxes are elegant and beautiful. I think these things are, rather than fun, showing the infantilisation of the country. Then again I'm a bit of a fan of Jonathan Meades. Also I am grumpy tonight.

String bags remind me of The Handmaid's Tale.

I like a bit of free art and yarn bombers brightening up dreary town centres especially since councils budgets have been slashed to bone over the last decade. There's some talented people making those toppers.

@AInightingale
yes, a very naice town in East Devon, but we only have toppers, no Gail’s.

It's a good point. Maybe these postboxes are an integral part of the Big Society.

We had an armed robbery in our street this week. Had the victim handed the 'perp' a ball of pink wool, a crochet needle and an instruction leaflet they probably wouldn't have to have given over their phone and car keys.

They make me smile at first but they look shit after a few days of rain.

I really like them, they make me smile and I would love to to be that creative. I doubt they go in landfill afterwards, wouldn't they be washed and then unpicked ready for the yarn to be used again.

Also I am grumpy tonight.

Me too, but on behalf of the other side of the argument . Postbox toppers are harmless. Lots of people like them. Most of the rest of the population probably aren't fussed either way and don't give them a second thought. They are not permanent. It's ok that some of you don't like the look of them - you are entitled to your opinion, however weirdly vehement. You can't really expect to like the look of every design decision or temporary display or installation everywhere you go, because people have different tastes.

Never seen one either.
Don't think we have a Gail's Bakery either - never heard of it!

My issue is more that I am expected by society (and Gail's clientele) to think they are fab. Why?

I’m not a fan and was unimpressed during covid when someone attached a whole lot of knitted NHS heart symbols with cable ties to our field fencing which runs along the village high street.

@IrateAndUnhinged
doubt anyone cares what you think about them. It’s a decorative fundraiser in the town near me: donate or enjoy or ignore..your choice.

Check out Bella coco videos and spider fibre 👍