Signs of the previous Leap Year.

OK, so 2020 was the previous leap year, and we all know what started happening then.  Those days though are already starting to seem like another world; one with real restrictions and real fear.

One thing that happened in the UK during the Covid epidemic and lockdown was the sudden proliferation of signs telling us how we should behave.  Lots of those have completely gone now, and I think it’s important that the traces of those remaining are recorded.  To that end I am making sure I photograph Covid signs whenever I come across them.

This is on a bus shelter in Ledbury, Herefordshire.  It’s a plastic film telling us to keep our distance.  Over the intervening years it looks to have been picked off by bored passengers.  Soon it may well have gone completely.

This Keep your Distance sign is in Thatcham in Berkshire.  I was struggling to work out the sequence of events that led to the surface under the sign being so different to the red paint around it.  I reckon that the strength of the sign’s glue is stronger than the paint underneath it, so that it’s pulled off the red paint as the bits of sign have been removed.

Sometimes the signs are still present but all the red dyes in them have been faded by sunlight, as is the case here.  These signs are on a public toilet door in Newent, Gloucestershire.  The signs are still there but the messages have faded.  I would hope that the Wash your hands advice is still followed though!

Why not add to this record by photographing vanishing Covid signs in your own area?