Signs of Life

All this talk, recently, of Hobos and indeed Autumn, made my mind leap back in time to an incident that happened ten years ago to the month, when I was being generally errant, while driving a whale of an Oldsmobile "on the road" south from Tawes Point, Michigan to Detroit,

to hook up with some buddies, where amongst other things we visited the old Motown Studios and posed singing in Studio A.

It was while i was driving on the road round Lake Huron, that i gave a ride to a hobo, a fairly clean hobo...but a hobo none the less.. His said his name was Troy, was in his forties and had been on the road all his life. Travelling and working. He was Interesting to talk to. Anyway,when we got to Royal Oak, where he said i could drop him off. I said i was hungry and said i'd buy him a coffee and a subway.. and he said great, but he'd spotted another eatery that was "very Good".

He'd previously said it was his first time in Royal Oak, so i said how did he know it was good?....and when we got to it he pointed out an 18" chalked "target" sign on a side alley wall of the eatery, that he'd noticed as we drove by it.

I was intrigued and inside, when eating the "Non Corporate food" he told me about all the signs that Hobos leave to tell each other about any given situation when walking through a neighbourhood, put in subtle places only they know where to look. For a free meal I got him to draw out as many as he could remember in my journal book.... and when i eventually got back to the UK....i drew them up as if they had been chalked on a wall, or out building, or road or fence post.

So here then for your enjoyment, is the sign language of a group of contemporary philosophers who live their own leisurely life untouched by the hectic tempo of our success-crazy world ~ the secret communication symbols of the knights of the road, The Hobos.


Sir Dayvd ( I'm a man of means by no means ) of Oxfordshire.