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What Are These Spiky Things on Top of London Bus Stops?

10.15.2012 by She Loves London // 9 Comments

Alright – this is a bit of an odd one. I’ve been going to work on the bus for about six months now, and almost every day I’ve looked out the window and seen these things on top of bus stops.

It’s a bit of an odd thing to notice, really. And if it was just one, then I’d probably be able to let it slide.

But it’s not, you see. It’s not just one.

They’re everywhere.

For a while, they were looking a bit worse for wear. A bit muddy. They resembled a lump of mud with cotton wool buds sticking out of them, but recently it’s like they’ve had an upgrade. Someone’s been around and replaced all the mucky round spiky things with new bright round spiky things.

spiky things on top of bus stops

I’m fairly sure I can’t be the only person to notice them, but it’s not like you can really tap the person next to you and go “Oi, do you know what they are?” so I’m asking you.

What are the round colourful spiky things?

Categories // At Street Level Tags // On the bus

Comments

  1. vainem says

    22nd October 2012 at 4:23 pm

    I’ve seen some on the 57 route from Wimbledon to Colliers Wood – thought it was an isolated incident of some serious throwing toys out of the pram! 

    Reply
    • sheloveslondon says

      22nd October 2012 at 4:51 pm

      It’s a mystery, vainem. A Facebook friend told me the other day it’s “urban art” by someone called “No Nose”. I’d kind of like to know where the inspiration to put cotton buds in multicoloured potatoes came from.

      Reply
      • vainem says

        23rd October 2012 at 8:55 am

        It is intriguing indeed. I don’t know about you but when I saw the stuffed toys for the first time- I spent the rest of my bus trip imagining the kind of situation that would result in the toy being thrown up there. 

        Reply
        • sheloveslondon says

          24th October 2012 at 10:21 am

          Ha! I keep seeing little wooden squares with pixel characters on them too on the top of bus stops. Someone out there is trying to catch our attention…

          Reply
  2. Stephanie Hind says

    24th October 2012 at 10:19 am

    OMG I noticed those too.. i’m obsessed with what they are there for..(my boyfriend is getting sick lol) But we went to the saatchi gallery and they was an exhibition that looked similar with loads of cotton buds and crazy stuff… (coz they are spikey and have orange cotton buds rite?) .. maybe it’s something to do with that?  

    Reply
    • sheloveslondon says

      24th October 2012 at 10:23 am

      Yeah, they could be the same thing. I think these things are potatoes. It’s baffled me for ages – they’re definitely an art project of some kind, I just can’t find any info about who’s behind them or why. Was the exhibition recent?

      Reply
  3. Russell Shaw Higgs says

    13th October 2019 at 4:45 pm

    Art by No Nose

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/nonose/

    Reply
  4. Fatima says

    5th November 2019 at 9:16 pm

    I thought it was some kind of tracking device. Im just so curious.. but nobody seems to know.

    Reply
  5. Aida Britto says

    16th January 2022 at 7:07 pm

    I have noticed them on the 149 route since we re-opened after the first lockdown back in 2020….
    I always thought they look like the corona virus….
    Today I saw a whole scene…. Took a photo because found it very funny….

    Reply

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