On July 30th, I saw the following near Inman Square in Cambridge:

As I cycled past this tragedy, I did a double-take, which is a very unsafe thing to do on a bicycle. I quickly stopped and backtracked to snap a picture. Rather than suffering the slings and arrows of this outrageousness alone, I needed to neutralize its power by sharing it with others.

What exactly was going on here? Judging by the rust, it seemed the benches had been there for quite some time. Meanwhile, the paint job on the USPS blue box looked fresh. Had someone from the post office really, truly decided that “between two benches” was a reasonable place to install a collection box?

Just look at it! Who could possibly think that was OK?! I am horrified to learn that the answer is “someone”, rather than “no human being, at any time, ever”. Gah!

I eventually biked off, shaking my head (also not particularly safe). When I showed these photos to friends over the next few days, I never failed to get a confused laugh. I also gained at least one amusing theory. Perhaps criminals meet on these benches, and the blue box was actually the FBI’s least subtle bugging ever. I could live with that kind of incompetence.

Fortunately for my mental health, a week later, I passed by again and saw this:

Sanity has prevailed. Nevertheless, I remain disturbed by the existence of a scarecrow running around out there so empty-headed that they did this in the first place.

Update (August 15, 2025): Shortly after, there came a new Blue Box theory.