The Star: August 23, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday August 23 2018 11
News
‘Dad jokes’ keep traffic moving at school
Caretaker’s
humour solves
parking woes
• By Sarla Donovan
A QUIRKY initiative to keep
traffic moving outside Mt
Pleasant School has made a huge
difference.
Like many schools, there were
parking issues at drop-off and
pick-up times created by people
leaving their vehicles and not
parking correctly.
So caretaker Simon Hillyer
came up with a novel idea.
He made humorous signs,
laminated them and put them up
on the 2min loading zone sign
outside the school.
The signs get rotated every
week, with the Crusaders, Bart
Simpson, Star Wars and Top Gun
providing inspiration.
Along with Mr Hillyer’s own
dad-joke sensibilities.
It’s a non-confrontational approach
which seems to have hit
the spot.
School office manager Carolyn
Wright said people eagerly
awaited the next instalment.
“The pressure’s on him now to
come up with the new stuff,” she
said.
Last week the school bell
played Highway to the Danger
Zone to co-ordinate with the Top
Gun-themed signs.
Mr Hillyer said results had
exceeded expectations.
www.selwynsounds.co.nz
2019
ON THE DOMAIN LINCOLN
2 MARCH 2019
QUIRKY: Mt Pleasant School caretaker
Simon Hillyer and some of his signs
outside the school. ​
“It’s all been pretty good
humoured. We still get the odd
idiot who pulls a U-turn in
the middle of the crossing but
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ON SALE
NOW
SAFETY: Max Hillyer (left)
and Gray Sweetman, both
9, with their funny traffic
safety signs outside Mt
Pleasant School.
generally people are heaps better
behaved than they were before,”
he said.
“It seems to have got the kids
talking about it as well. They
don’t quite understand what
the sign means sometimes, like
the Bison dad joke, so they start
chatting to mum or dad about
it.”
Where does he get his inspiration
from?
“I’ve got a fairly warped sense
of humour. We just try and keep
it fresh.”
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