Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Speech topics from around your neighborhood





















How do you come up with a speech topic? One way is go for a walk in your neighborhood, and look for something new. Back on January 29th I saw a cluster of sixteen portable toilets lined up in a driveway a few blocks from my home, as shown above. Was someone planning on having a colossal Super Bowl party? What were they serving? I guessed that homeowner was starting up a portable toilet rental business, and his shipment arrived before he got set up at his new business address.
















On February 3rd I saw a crew cab flatbed truck with a pump, tank, and a trailer for two portable toilets around the corner from that driveway. There still was no business name either on the door or the toilets. But shortly afterwards there was a posting on Nextdoor about that rental business, and it showed up on the web. At howstuffworks you can find a web page on How Porta-Potties Work.
























Anywhere you find geese (or other birds like seagulls) you need to beware of poop. For a couple of years I once lived at Salem Walk apartments near the village of Northbrook, Illinois. Their current web page on amenities talks about:   

“beautifully landscaped grounds with its picturesque lake”

when they realistically should have said, as CBS 2 IdahoNews here in Boise headlined on November 15, 2015:

‘You’re walking on a carpet of goose poop out there.’

Travel writers also refer to Seattle as being ‘picturesque,’ which really means that you can’t get around without taking a ferryboat or crossing a toll bridge.

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