Sign of Hard Times

There was a sad story in last week's edition of Paris Match magazine which was highlighting the fact that there seem to be a rather large number of suicides happening all over the place these days, linked to the global economic crisis, often among formerly affluent folks who may have had to deal with large losses. Well, all I can say is, no matter how bad things may be looking ; hang in there... Springtime will be coming soon, and like the Grateful Dead sang in their excellent song New Speedway Boogie : "One way or another, this darkness got to give". Another pertinent song is Loudon Wainwright's upbeat blues tune I'm Alright... It is true, there is an awful lot of bad news in the press these days, makes you wonder whether we wouldn't be a little better served if there was a bit more optimism published from time to time. Between global warming, weather disasters, the economic implosion, over-population driving other species into extinction, and general madness among the masses... is anyone in control of anything any more ?
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I took this photo in July 1986 on one of my long walks around Paris. Loosely translated the signs say, "Suicide, nobody wants to know about it", or "Suicide, it's nobody's business". For some reason I always had the impression that the empty cable spools at the bottom had all rolled up from somewhere to come look at the sign, and their different sizes echo the different sizes of the people with their backs turned. Whatever, in any case, cheer up, things can only get better, right?
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