Over the last few weeks, Stuart (with occasional help from me) has been preparing the Signpost to show at the Victoria Plaza during Artside (1-16 July). Signpost has been hibernating quietly in the front room, but needed some tinkering and TLC. We found a typo on one of the subtitles (now corrected) and a power supply and cable needed replacing. We also needed to replace the artificial turf back on the base, as it had been removed for storage. Stuart has liaised with Artside organisers, and staff at the Victoria, and also worked with our electrician Paul, to PAT test a timer which will allow the post to switch on and off automatically. This means staff at the centre won't be required to do anything whilst it is in place, it should be totally self managing.

It will be the first time the post has been shown for more than a day, so it is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate how the post can operate in a publicly accessible area over a period of time. The centre has a footfall of 125,000 every week, and whilst we don't expect everyone who visits to spend time with the post, we do hope that some travellers - especially those using the Victoria as a link between central Southend and Southend Victoria Station - may take time out to wonder about it, fulfilling the Artside brief, "Pause".

We'll post images and more thoughts as Artside rolls out.