In an apparent cost-cutting measure which may reflect prehistoric practices, six standing stones have been erected in the middle of a busy roundabout in the centre of Ayr, Scotland - a town on the Irish Sea about 100 kilometres southwest of Edinburgh. The stones rise from a bed of decorative gravel. Two other local roundabouts have also been given makeovers, and are now covered by large boulders sitting on pebbles. They were the last three roundabouts in Ayr not to have benefited from any form of landscaping.  
     South Ayrshire Council's neighbourhood and environment executive director Ms Lesley Bloomer says the locations were prone to becoming overgrown with weeds, and dangerous to maintain: "This low maintenance project has minimum impact on sight lines and enhances the approach for thousands of drivers each and every day." A resident said: "I quite like the standing stones but think they look a bit austere. It would be a shame if we lose all the gorgeous flowerbeds, however."
     Your editor wonders if Neolithic people similarly lamented a transition from wooden posts to standing stones.

Edited from Daily Record (19 December 2017)