These warning tapes flapping in the breeze are reminiscent of Buddhist prayer flags. Yellow symbolises the element earth and the east; horizontal flags, are called Lung Dar. Prayer flags should always be still and it is considered disrespectful if they touch the ground – these have been hung too low. Is the fox coincidental? The wild fox kōan, also known as ‘Pai-chang’s fox’ and ‘Hyakujō and a Fox’, is an influential story in the Zen tradition dating back to the early 11th Century.
Photo: Granham’s Road, Cambridge, 2011