The hunt for street signs

Ever since I took that first street sign photograph almost 18 months ago, it has become an obsession - I can't go anywhere without first studying maps of the area I'm heading to in case there's a worthwhile street with a name I haven't yet added to my ever-growing list.

Without trying to sound too exotic, it was in Australia when I first stumbled upon the idea. A lazy week spent on Magnetic Island (ironically, a tiny island with only a handful of roads) presented 'Heath Street' - the name of my cousin's boyfriend in Canberra who we would be visiting just weeks later. How could I resisit!? How fun it would be to show him that many hundred miles north of his capital home, on a lovely, warm, quiet island lay a road named 'after' him?

Of course it didn't stop there, oh no... As Mr O and I continued to travel north up the coast, each new town we stopped at held more and more signs: David St and Campbell St in Mission Beach; Minnie St and Sheridan St in Cairns. And then to Melbourne - to this day the most affluent place on earth (that I have yet discovered) in terms of street signs.

This Sunday saw my first ever trip to somewhere with the intention soley for the search of street names - to Perth. Not a long drive from Edinburgh and with the snow no more than a splash of slush on the side of the road, not a bad journey either. A whole list of names to obtain (eight in total...not quite enough to rival Melbourne, but a good effort) and obtain-away I did!

Miles I walked, often in the wrong direction, looking, hoping, turning corners in the hope that the terrible map I had drawn out on a piece of scrap paper would somehow lead me to my destinations. And what a buzz! To find not only those names on my list, but also ones that I had somehow missed on my Saturday afternoon map-studying session (how did I miss you, Stuart Avenue?!) was quite a thrill.

My enthusiasm was fuelled thanks to my booking my first craft fair, at the Morningside Makers Market on Saturday 6 February, at the Columcille Centre on Newbattle Terrace from 10.30am-4pm - I need to start building up stock!

As for my Perth haul, I would like you to welcome Angus Court, Malcolm Court, Lewis Place, Rae Place, James Street, Isla Road, Victoria Street, Scott Street and of course, Stuart Avenue, to the list.

I wonder what next weekend will bring...