PJ - the land of billboards, traffic lights, gawdawful speed bumps and pot holes

I don't know if it's just me, but there seems to be a lot more billboards, pot holes on the roads and also an inordinate number of speed bumps on the roads now that I have a driver's license than when I was a kid. You could say that kids don't really notice these things anyway, which is probably true, but I'm just saying.

1. Billboards

The big billboards along the highways I don't mind so much, which gives you something to look at (to quote my father). But the ones along the main roads in the commercial and residential areas are quite the eyesore, especially they're neither eye catching or informational. One per 100 m stretch I don't mind, but one every other metre of road is also too much on the eye sockets. Luckily the city council has been taking them down, but I could always do with less.

2. Those damn loan shark ads

The glued one ones featuring the "personal financial" services (aka loan sharks) which get pasted on real strong with what seems to be the strongest glue on Earth on every empty surface available, those assholes even cover the street signs with the ads, obscuring it. Those damn ads are a menace to society. What's worse is that some get stuck on pretty high - I give them props for carrying a ladder around.... But those things are a visual overload on the eyes. There should be a hotline for people to call in whenever they spot guys pasting on the loan shark ads and a reward like some neighbourhoods are doing with the illegal ads. Then again, I don't fancy getting beat up by the loan sharks also...

3. Way too many traffic lights

I can't seem to drive half a kilometre anywhere in PJ without having to slow down and stop at a traffic junction, which is already annoying until said traffic lights don't work and chaos ensues from the queue jumping. It takes twice as long to get someplace with the traffic lights.

4. Them wretched speed bumps

Living in an area with 2 primary schools near each other, there is (understandably) a need to keep the schoolchildren safe by slowing the cars down enough to prevent serious road accidents. The thing that gets my goat are the home made, skinny ones that some homeowners have in front of their houses to not only slow people down, but also wreck the suspension of the passing cars. I got half a mind to take a jackhammer to those stupid speed bumps and take them out myself if I wasn't afraid of taking out my own toes operating one of those things.

And my neighbourhood has one too many fucking speed bumps: everyday I have to go over nearly 10 of them (depending on the route) just leaving and coming home. What the fuck and damn kanasai.

5. Pot holes and sink holes

Even when they're patched they can't stay patched. Most of the time, one can't even avoid them and have no choice but to go through them, wreaking havoc on the suspension. So annoying. That, and the speed bumps makes driving really unpleasant.

All that aside, I still love it in PJ and I can't bring myself to leave the place.