Stuck

Couple of yellow helmeted Indians, tall and short, issued reflective safety vests and orange long-sleeved polos—remainder of the clobber their own responsibility: jeans & footwear. Pair is tasked this morning with removing the litter attached to the lamp-posts and street poles here in Geylang. Bag for refuse, bottle of water, pair of scrapers each; tall senior presumably charged with the responsibility of the camera for the record. Two posts on Geylang Road near Changi corner kept the lads ten minutes until the job was done properly, smooth clean silver gleaming and snapped for the Super. Illegal notices for room advertisements with the tear-away telephone numbers at the bottom are the biggest problem. The tape people use on these slips is very darn sticky; it is this that remains long after the paper has been torn away. What's worse, in the case of the larger lamp-post the fancy ridged sleeve wrapped around the pole earlier in the year for some urban beautification makes it doubly hard to clean. Some water needed to soften the tape. Unfortunately a bicycle is chained to this particular post and how to prevent the seat from getting wet? What to do? Quick furtive looks left and right. Luckily no irate owner leaps from the tables to upbraid the lads. Scrape, scrape both together, Tall bending his back. Blades sharp enough for the task? Don't look like it on a couple of takes from one and then the other independently. Scrape, scrape. Hands run over the grooves once, twice, three times does it. Not too bad; pretty good. Photograph. The Super not likely to hightail out to check every last pillar and post. Though square-edged and one would have assumed an easier prospect, the No-crossing post is not much better, its tape visible from ten metres away. Water again, scraping. It comes away with a bit of added elbow grease. But not really. Shit of a thing. Tall turns a beak in the direction; around on the other side Short angling contrawise for balance. A shot from a higher elevation will help with the evidence for Super. Tall raises the camera. OK, there. Difficult in fact to read this sign. No walking on the footpath? or from the upper path under the trees and onto the footpath perhaps in case you run into someone unexpectedly?... Ah, no. OK. Jay-walking. No jaywalking here across the busy four-lane roadway. Warning—not allowed: thick red line through the circled figure. Twenty-five metres away at Joo Chiat corner traffic lights for safe crossing. Some cloud this morning. Two posts done, get a move on. Off the pair troop; by lunch-time they ought to make the Kalang River where some shade is offered by the bank.