On wire

Last weekend, when taking a wander around my neighbourhood, I came across a new take on the 'shoes on wire' phenomenon. Fruit and vegies. Strung up and slung over the wires.

First, a little apology for the poor quality of these images and the rambling tangent driven blog that follows (I'm a little distracted by the promise of daiquiris). The zoom on my camera wasn't really up to the task and I couldn't get very close to the wires. These grapes look almost furry at this level of zoom. Also a little sexual, in a mutant kind of way, although I don't think that has a whole lot to do with the zoom function.


That said, it seems very close is not such a good option. This bat - let's call him Adam - seems to have been lured in by the apple and made the rather unfortunate choice to spread himself out over two wires. He has been hanging upside down for over a week now and I am fairly sure it is safe to pronounce Adam an ex-bat.


I haven't quite come to grips with why people throw shoes over wires, let along fruit and vegies. Urban Dictionary and Urban Semiotic both suggest that it is an American street code for 'drugs available nearby' - this being why sometimes old sneakers strung up by their shoelaces get called 'crack tennies'. This vaguely gritty explanation seems to have gained traction of late as we're all turning wigger, getting our Baltimore on with HBO's latest offering, The Wire. Surely there's a Stuff White People Like blog coming on that?


Continuing in the urban vein, 'shoefiti' is said to mark gang turf or to commemorate the death of a gang member. The Harris Farm-like quantity and variety of fruit and vegies on offer on this street would amount to a massacre. It is also apparently a superstitious thing; hanging the shoes of a dead person should enable their spirits to walk higher and/or protect their previous dwelling from haunting. This seems to have some resonance in film - remember that scene in Tim Burton's Big Fish, when Ewan McGregor's character Edward Bloom visits the aptly-named town of Spectre, where everyone's shoes hang across the power line and they all dance around, distinctly barefoot and dead?


Wikipedia offers a range of less ominious/exciting theories around the why of shoe tossing include silly drunkards, mean school kids, a celebration of almost any rite of passage, military personnel marking the end of training or service and disposing of unwanted shoes. The internet was less helpful with theories for fruit and vegies on wires, although I suspect that one of the guys who works at the local cafe has it right - 'the Nike habit has become too expensive'. Or perhaps we can blame freegans gone rogue, coming up with such an oversupply of food from dumpster diving that they are now decorating our streets.

Last word about all things 'on wire'. If you've not seen the documentary about the thrilling and illegal tightrope walking adventures of Frenchman Phillipe Petit, Man on Wire yet, now is the time. At least, now is a good a time as any.