If you’ve always wanted to rename a roundabout in Inverness, it seems you’re only a can of spray-paint away from fulfilling your dream.
So much has changed in the Highland capital in the past couple of decades.
Well-loved businesses have come and gone, housing developments have popped up all over the place and much of the city’s heart looks almost unrecognisable.
Perhaps then we should take comfort from the things that have stayed the same.
That’s one way of looking at it, I guess.
The other is wondering how on earth has no one bothered to repair a road sign that was vandalised back when Tony Blair was still prime minister.
‘If we leave it much longer it’ll be having little baby graffitis of its own’
Thousands of motorists pass through Old Perth Road every day, hoping they’ve timed their journey to avoid a passing train clogging up the Millburn roundabout.
Along the way, they’ll encounter a badly rusting sign.
At some point in the distant past, someone spray-painted the letter S at the front of the name.
When exactly this happened isn’t clear. A Google Street View image of the area shows it visible in June 2008, but that’s only the first time Old Perth Road appeared on the service.
Others familiar with the area remember noticing it as far back as 2003.
Regardless of the exact date, it was a long time ago.
Inverness Millburn councillor David Gregg said it was embarrassing that the vandalism had been left for such a long time.
He said: “That graffiti saw the end of the Iraq War, Scotland qualify for their first major football tournament in 20+ years, and the UK leave the EU.
“If we leave it much longer before cleaning it up, it’ll be going off to college, getting married, and having little baby graffitis of its own.
“I’ll be asking officers to take a look at this as it’s completely embarrassing that the council has left this for 15 years, and seems to be happy to leave it for another 15 years.”
Is it supposed to be Smellburn? I don’t get it…
The graffiti’s longevity is probably helped by the fact it’s so innocuous.
Smillburn. It doesn’t really make sense, does it?
It isn’t particularly funny, offensive or clever. It’s just a bit… weird.
Maybe it’s an in-joke. We’d love to know the origin but the person responsible for it is probably too busy taking their own kids to school to chat.
Plenty of other road signs around the city are looking a bit worse for wear too.
Many of them are rusting and plenty of them still refer to Inverness as a town.
That’s something that’s now 23 years out of date.
Highland Council has said it will only repair road signs if they are damaged, while pointing out it is responsible for the largest local road network in the UK.
That’s a fair point and amid the comical nature of this long-standing graffiti, it raises a more serious issue.
Quite frankly, it has far bigger fish to fry.
Smillburn sign is here to stay
Highland Council has endured crisis after crisis when it comes to its finances.
Like many others across the country, it is struggling to keep its head above water.
That often puts it in a lose-lose situation. Facing the wrath of a public fuming with declining services but left without the means to fix most of the problems.
School buildings are crumbling, social care is facing unprecedented pressure and potholes need filled.
Against that backdrop, a rusty road sign is way down the list of priorities.
As for the Smillburn sign specifically, it’s here to stay.
At least for the foreseeable future.
A spokeswoman for Highland Council said: “We are aware of the damaged sign but there are no plans to replace it at present.”
External work on what Transport Scotland is calling the “Millburn travel corridor” is currently progressing.
That work is focused on a series of bus and active travel related improvements.
Maybe adding an S to the title of that plan could save us all a few bob in the long run?
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