Some of you who follow me also follow my good friend and fellow blogger Neil Scheinin on Yeah, Another Blogger. If not, I can thoroughly recommend that you do – despite, or perhaps because of, being ‘as old as dirt,’ to use his words, Neil’s blogs are stuffed with wit and wisdom about the human condition. He’s a bit of an inspiration to us youngsters in their sixties, not least because he thinks the current White House squatter is a complete tool, which sets him apart from, it seems, a sizeable proportion of his fellow Americans (last Trump reference in this post, I promise!)

Neil has several themes running through his blog, one of which is ‘Art on Wheels,’ about the cool stuff he sees on the sides of vans and lorries. He recently published his sixteenth piece in the series, which was just as entertaining as the first. The general theme is, Neil gets himself from his home in the ‘burbs to downtown Philadelphia via its excellent public transportation system (or ‘hauls his sorry ass, as he puts it) and takes photos of, well, the cool stuff he sees on the side of vans and lorries. It’s a concept I’ve wanted to, er, borrow for some time. However, there’s not been so much cool stuff round here to warrant a single blog – until, perhaps, now.

It’s idle – but still moderate fun – to speculate why that should be. The obvious explanation is that we Scots are, in general, a shy and retiring race who aren’t good at advertising ourselves or, by extension, our wares. We’d be self-deprecating if we weren’t so rubbish at it. Maybe we just don’t have a single creative bone in our body, although that seems unlikely given our contributions to the world of literature, art and all that sort of stuff.

Perhaps, to be more positive about it, it’s just that the Americans are extraordinarily good at artistic commercial advertising. That certainly seems likely. There are more of them, for a start. They are almost definitely better at marketing themselves than we are (although, y’know, whisky, haggis and other such scams perpetrated on the rest of the world suggest we have some talent in that regard). Maybe they’re just more artistic. Who knows, or cares, really.

Anyways, here are some pictures of such things I’ve gleaned on this side of the Pond in the past couple of years. I really like the flooring company’s pop-art stylee support of the NHS, even if it is a bit virtue-signally.

Then there’s the fruit and veg seller, again with an obvious kind of reference. Not sure the banana’s a great advert for its wares, though.

Food in general seems to bring out the best in our commercial signwriters, however. Who could resist Fife Creamery’s Sean and his humungous cobb cake? Well, I probably could, but it’s certainly eye-catching, to be fair.

Next up is a decent effort from a related sector, that of fresh flowers. To be honest I’m not sure if it’s the graphic design or just the branding that draws me to this one, but the overall effect is quite pleasing – even if I only got a pic with the door open.

Last but by no means least we have this cheeky firm of pest control operatives, who have gone to our National Bard, Rabbie Burns, for inspiration. The moose seems quite cheery about the prospect of being ‘controlled,’ perhaps unaware of what may be involved from his perspective.

Not sure what tartan that is he’s wearing, but there no doubt is a special tartan for rodents, at least if you ask for one at a shop on the Royal Mile (see Scottish Scams, above).

That’s all I got for now. Feel free to send in your comments, votes for the best, etc. I might get to do Part the Second in a couple of years, if I’ve not been controlled myself before then.