The Mysterious Paving Slab

This isn't really street art even though I've given it that tag – but it definitely comes from the street. In fact, it's on the street itself!

This afternoon, Michelle and I went for a walk in the suburb of Malvern, and at the corner of Kooyong Road, I noticed this inscribed paving slab:

It's 27 years old and a bit weathered, so if'n ya can't read it, it says:

A CURSE UPON THE

REMOVAL OF THIS SLAB

AS IT FINALLY

LAYS TO REST

WITNESSED

1ST DECEMBER 1989

What's that all about, eh? 'Curse'? 'Lays to rest'? Don't tell me some poor schmo was buried under there? Alas, no. It turns out someone called 'Eugene' put it there to protest at the street being dug up time times in a year (presumably the year 1989). He was the chairman of the High Street Traders Association, and was fed up of losing business due to roadworks (lucky he never worked in Hong Kong, then).

It seems to have worked, as the slab is obviously older than the surrounding ones; the subsequent roadworkers just paved around it. So they did heed Eugene's curse, esoteric as it may be.