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Here’s a thing you might not have known. This bright red post is actually a bollard. The term is derived from bole, which was originally an old Norse word for the trunk of a tree. The earliest bollards were the stumps of tree trunks to which Vikings would moor their longships. Eventually the term came to apply to any sort of stubby mooring post affixed to a dock or quay. Now it’s also used for posts that serve to prevent vehicles from banging into buildings.
None of that information is the least bit useful. It doesn’t add anything to the beauty this photograph; it’s to be hoped it doesn’t detract from it. It’s just a reminder that seemingly ordinary things are often very much more than they first appear.
It’s easy to see this as a very pretty picture. It’s also easy to to appreciate the elegant geometric pattern displayed here. It’s somewhat more difficult to see that this blood red concrete post is, in a very real way, a direct link to ancient seagoing marauders and explorers.
It’s just a thing you might not have known.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
