Working flags

This afternoon The Boy and I drove home across one of the many bridges in this town. This is not a regular thing for us, so it still involves a fair amount of exclaiming. Arches! Cars! Trees! 

And then he saw the banners. You know the kind, the rectangular pieces of cloth they put on either side of light poles, often saying nice things about the city or advertising an upcoming community event. 

"There are a lot of flags here" he says.

"There are a lot of legs here??!" I ask. Because the bridge is noisy and crowded and I am of course hardly paying attention.

"There are a lot of FLAGS here." he repeats. Flags are a big thing. I don't know why. Like planes and ambulances and cement mixers and cranes, they just need to be pointed out whenever and wherever they are found. Who knows the mind of the toddler. Anyway the banners aren't exactly flags, in face their only similarity comes from the fact that they are both colourful material, given that these banners are held at the top and bottom and don't even wave, for pete's sake. 

A fact that is, of course, noticed by the child who cannot realize that eyebrows are made of hair. After this latest pronouncement there is a pause. A critical pause. And then, in a disappointed tone of voice. "But they aren't working."