OK, we all know the usual signs, and things like telephone switching boxes and lamp posts, but can anyone (who hasn't already looked at my website) ever seen a gas regulator vent or a stink pipe?
Years ago I noticed every mile or so what looked like lamp posts with a metal box stuck to them, and no lamp. It took me till relatively recently to discover they were gas regulator vents, and the small ones are gas pressure regulators.
These do as they say, are connected to the gas main and contain pipework and mechanisms to keep the pressure up to the regulation amount. They are between 5 and 10 feet high.
I don't know whether they exist outside the UK as I haven't looked, but after my natural curiosity led me to ask British Gas for a location list and internal diagram, I was told this information is classified. So for the other possible person on earth who may be interested, I placed this information (apart from the internals) on my website. gas regulator vents
There are 3 more shown on the homepage. Most are green, but I have seen a brown and a grey example. International reports please, if seen.
Stink pipes are like lamp posts, but taller, and again, no lamp. They are actually sewer vents, quite rare, but very important as otherwise methane etc could build up underground and blow up parts of the country.
For completeness there are also small bollards with massive amounts of equipment- clocks, meters, circuits etc in them that are to do with the water supply, and even smaller ones about 18 inches high which are for the electricity board, but I don't know their names or exact functions. Both grey, the water varieties are relatively recent and increasingly common. They look like normal traffic bollards, but are plastic not concrete, and have the water board badge on them. Am I really the only person on earth who notices these things?

Believe it or not, you are not the only person to have noticed these things.

In Alice Springs there is an area almost in the middle of town which when you drive through, depending on the wind, lets off an unpleasant whiff to say the least. I had always thought it was because the area was slightly lower in elevation to the rest of the place and although not swampy tended to fill with rain fairly quickly and took a long time to evaporate.

On one occasion I happened to see these tall white pipes with no light on the top and found out they were in fact stink pipes. There are also a couple in the middle of town but for some reason they never seem to smell.

So there you have it. You need never feel alone again.

None of these curious things where I am. This is the first I've heard of such a creature.

There are a few of the smaller ones near here, but they actually vent out a landfill that has been covered up.

A "stink pipe" sounds like something I'd avoid in a hurry. P.U.

Trust me, it is. Especially in humid weather.

It's OK in the UK, they're well over 20 feet high and designed to send whatever stink there may be above our noses. We do have a few in local shopping streets and I've never noticed any smell.

Sort of semi-related in that it is street furniture, although not rare, is the red pillar box for posting your mail.

Did you know that this was invented by famous author Anthony Trollope?

I don't know if this is related to street furniture but my bus driver stole the bus stop sign last night.

Very peculiar indeed.

He probably doesn't want to travel so far to work so he moved it to outside his house

Unless you can help me satguru, I am going to ring the council on Monday.

We have olive green boxes on the footpaths that are about a metre high. I suspect they are something to do with electricity but I will confirm just what they are for.
The bottom is larger than the top thereby giving is a square 'pyramid ' look.

Ever since you started this thread I have become more vigilant of what is in my street and I look forward to posting more snippets as and when they come to hand.
Sick puppy, Exit.

I have to know - what happened when you reported it, Exit?

And, how did you know that's who did it? Did he do it while people were actually on the bus and witnessing it? That's really weird!

We were pootling along, as you do, and he pulled up at a bus stop and jumped down and picked up the sign. He struggled a bit and managed to get it on and then put it in the space at the front of the bus where you can put heavy bags and such like.

The rest of us were all too gobsmacked to actually say anything. After he had managed to jam the thing in he just jumped back into his seat and kept going. Unfortunately I had to get off before I found out what happened.

Aah, a day in the life of a commuter. At least it broke the monotony.

My guess is if it was a 'pick up' rather than set in concrete bus stop, these are temporary here, and would either be removed to put in a permanent one, or to be replaced for a different version like a request stop. So rather than send out a little man with a van to do it, they'd get the driver to pick one up and send the next one with a replacement.
Was there one there the next time you passed by or had they moved it, or was there just a space?

What a small world we live in. As this has everybody sitting on the edge of their bus seats I will endeavour to find out tomorrow.