the wrong lamppost

On my way home this evening, after a very pleasant munch, I got off the bus in the town center, thinking I had enough energy left for a bit more walking, and that the exercise would be good for me after a week of doing essentially nothing. I was mistaken. The emotional energy from the munch had drained off during the short bus ride, and I was tired enough to be trudging with my head down. When I reached for the pushbutton to summon the pedestrian crossing signal, I wasn't really looking at the post where it's mounted. I thought I knew where it was. No button. I raised my head to look out from under the brim of my hat, and saw I was pushing a sticker wrapped around a lamppost, a few feet from the button that calls the pedestrian crossing. (The stickers are at www.nospank.net/ksz.htm I had my hand on the red circle, and the blue text was wrapped around so it wasn't immediately visible.) I jumped back with a startled little yelp.

Yikes. That woke me right up. Even knowing that whoever put the stickers up must have had intentions completely unrelated to any of my conversations this evening (and also presumably unrelated to my patient and forgiving neighbors on the other side of that thin wall), yikes.