As part of a series called "What's that Thing", which examines "mysterious or overlooked objects in our visual landscapes", Slate writer Mark Vanhoenacker singled out the 'umbrella signs' dotted around Singapore.
These signs are found within the island's highway network, where other "points of interest" like "everyone driving the speed limit" and "blue 'death tents'" can also be found.
In the column, Vanhoenacker brainstorms the signs' meaning ("Directions to an umbrella district? To a Mary Poppins theme park?"), and eventually gets the answer from expat Naomi Hattaway, who first moved to Singapore in 2012.
What's interesting about her answer is not the actual meaning — which we all know to be a direction towards the nearest rain shelter on the highway, especially for motorcyclists — but that she's described the sign as "pretty cool and ingenious".
Photo: Naomi Hattaway via Slate
To locals, the rain shelter is an obvious necessity, one we should think is available in other parts of the world, except maybe in cities without actual roads and rain.
But according to Vanhoenacker here, many countries in the world don't have this system. Those cited in the column are America, Britain and South Africa, which are dense in population and get their fair share of rainfall.
Vanhoenacker also says that foreigners in Singapore find the concept of highway rain shelters "very Singaporean".
As part of a series called "What's that Thing", which examines "mysterious or overlooked objects in our visual landscapes", Slate writer Mark Vanhoenacker singled out the 'umbrella signs' dotted around Singapore.
These signs are found within the island's highway network, where other "points of interest" like "everyone driving the speed limit" and "blue 'death tents'" can also be found.
In the column, Vanhoenacker brainstorms the signs' meaning ("Directions to an umbrella district? To a Mary Poppins theme park?"), and eventually gets the answer from expat Naomi Hattaway, who first moved to Singapore in 2012.
What's interesting about her answer is not the actual meaning — which we all know to be a direction towards the nearest rain shelter on the highway, especially for motorcyclists — but that she's described the sign as "pretty cool and ingenious".
Photo: Naomi Hattaway via Slate
To locals, the rain shelter is an obvious necessity, one we should think is available in other parts of the world, except maybe in cities without actual roads and rain.
But according to Vanhoenacker here, many countries in the world don't have this system. Those cited in the column are America, Britain and South Africa, which are dense in population and get their fair share of rainfall.
Vanhoenacker also says that foreigners in Singapore find the concept of highway rain shelters "very Singaporean".