What the #@*& is that??

Have you ever been driving around your home town and had your head snap back while looking at something out the window?   Perhaps something that you had driven by a hundred times over the course of a lifetime.  Something that made you exclaim “Hey what the #@*& is that?”.

Well dear readers todays entry is all about those little wonders that really make us, well for a lack of a better term, wonder.  Winnipeg is my home town, it is also the capital of the Province of Manitoba. As such it’s littered with such little gems.  I have taken the liberty of going out and selecting a few for your guessing enjoyment.

Entry Number 1:  Gear in a Park.

Gear in a park.

Let’s for lack of a better title call this one Gear in a Park.  It looks to my trained eye to be a really big gear of some type.  Perhaps it was once off a lift bridge that spanned the Assiniboine River which the park borders?

Bronze Plaque on Gear Monument.

I looked for clues on a plaque that I found on the plinth of the monument and found it dedicated to one Gerald Lynch.  However there was no description on or near the “Gear” that gave any clue about why the man was thus honoured.

Entry Number 2:  # 1 Northern.

This entry is worthy of  a Stupidity in Government Award.  Sitting nearly at the epicentre of Canada’s most famous corner, Portage and Main.  This neck snapping beauty graces the front of the Canadian Wheat Board building.  What exactly wheat board officials were thinking when they commissioned it or what the artist was smoking while crafting it is beyond my limited scope.  Have a look for yourself and see what you think of “# 1 Northern”.

#1 Northern

#1 Northern (Image 2)

According to the plaque attached, #1 Northern represents the flowing wheat fields that span our prairie province.  #1 Northern once being the wheat of choice for mills and consumers across North America.

WHAT???  OK, am I being simple or just closed-minded but how is a pile of sheet metal painted yellow laying on a lawn anything other than industrial waste??  If I were to put leavings from my roof on the front yard and paint them pretty colours.  A little white van would pull up in front and some very burly men would take me away where I could not do any damage to myself or others.  But when taxpayers pay for it…..

Sorry bout that I went off on a bit of a rant there.

Lets have a look at the next candidate shall we.

Entry Number 3: ???????

This next doozy  is courtesy of our friends at the Law Courts building.  Just a stones throw from our provincial legislature sits this monstrosity.

Law Courts 1

Law Courts 2

Law Courts 3

Now, I have looked at this object d’art from every conceivable angle in hopes of divining what it represents or what purpose if any it holds.  I have scoured the surrounding streets and lamp posts looking for a clue, or a tell-tale marker.  As of yet I have found nothing.

So in closing if you have such works in your home town, those oddities that leave you scratching your head.  Fear not, there are others like you and like me who cry out in traffic.. “What the #@*& is that!!”

Author’s Note: Hey Readers!  Do you have any strange monuments in your home town??  If so send me a comment and I may feature them in an upcoming post.  How bout it?  Send in those comments and I will be in touch with you.

Take Care.

Bob