'Does anyone know where these come from?
Does anyone know what they mean?'
So asks Rhys Fullerton, who began noticing roses in bottles pasted to unobtrusive local spots a few days ago.
The one pictured right appears on the postbox in Bellevue Road. The one below by the puffin crossing at the end of East London Street.
Similarly obscure are the croquet-playing bottles gracing the A-board outside Villeneuve Wines in Broughton Street. The artwork seems to imply that French matelots require the metaphorical impetus of wine to propel their metaphorical balls through metaphorical hoops and so impress the ladies.
If you have a better interpretation, by all means tell us. There is no right answer – a staff member we questioned on the premises this morning was every bit as baffled as everyone else.
Meanwhile, further downhill, at the Apple Pharmacy, the vial in the window has received its annual Christmas spruce-up and sprinkle. The presence of a brown bear may be no coincidence – this is the third ursus maritimus in Broughton to have caught Spurtle''s attention recently and we think we have detected a theme. All will be revealed in Issue 247, out soon.
Do you have any minor metropolitan mysteries? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook