Most of the time, the world changes in such a subtle, gradual way that it’s hard to notice. For instance, we don’t usually notice people aging until we see an old photo that shows what they used to look like or we go a long time without seeing them.
The same thing goes for those ordinary things we use every day. Although it’s difficult to notice, even the smallest ways that we interact with things do have an effect on them.
And when those things are open to the public or the elements, we’re actually have a chance to see those effects without waiting a lifetime.
We can definitely describe this soccer ball as “well-loved.”
Although many of us can recall playing with these until we wore their outer shells away, this is probably the most wear and tear a ball can take without simply falling apart.
We’re not the only ones who feel like wilting when the air gets hot and humid.
It’s hard to tell how cool this fan can possibly keep things now that its blades are so droopy, but it obviously can’t help itself the way it helps us.
We may have noticed the floor on the left was dirty on its own, but this comparison shows exactly how dirty it is.
There’s nothing like laying a new carpet next to an old one to make us think, “Oh, that’s what that’s supposed to look like.”
This truck broke down back in the ’70s and it seems that things have only gotten worse for it since.
The longer it sits there, the closer the elements get to burying it in the sand. At this rate, it ought to make for a surprise underground discovery in about 10 years or so.
When a royal reigns for long enough, we can actually see them age on their own currency.
Both of these Canadian quarters depict Queen Elizabeth II, but it’s not hard to tell which one’s from 1967 and which one’s from 2017.
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It’s pretty hard to make out anything in this photo, but that wasn’t always the case.
After spending years in direct sunlight, any identifying features in the photo have been more or less bleached off.
This is not an average sight for an ice cube tray, but it definitely seems like it took a long time to notice.
If this person’s freezer is leaking, the water seemed to adjust to the tray’s shape before slowly towering upward.
This book’s back cover has yellowed with age, but the way this bookmark has influenced the process will look familiar to any sunbather.
Apparently, it was left in this exact place for so long that it kept one strip looking just like it did when this book was first printed.
That “Got Milk?” ad also makes it pretty easy to figure out when this all started.
This barber has obviously been doing her job for a while if this floor is of any indication.
I guess it’s kind of a good sign when the floor in a barbershop is like this.
After all, it shows the people working there are pretty attentive and make sure their planned styles look good from all angles.
This clip may not seem like much, but it had a pretty important job until quite recently.
When a punching bag fell off the ceiling at a gym, a little investigation uncovering that the top part of the clip holding it up had finally had all the wear and tear it could take.
This is what can happen to a rock after enough people climb on it.
We know that water and plants can wear away a stone if you give them enough time, but we can apparently also add feet to that list.
Somebody put this large snail shell in a tree branch and came back years later to see what happened.
It turns out that when the tree kept growing, so did the branch. When that happened, it managed to both break the shell into pieces and carry each piece off in different directions.
This lamppost wasn’t painted this way. Nature can just surprise us with how subtly powerful it can be.
Specifically, the winds blowing from Lake Michigan were apparently strong enough for long enough to blast the paint off one side of the post.
This nifty pattern wasn’t intentional, but rather the result of this mirror’s tint fading.
Although it’s hard to argue with how wintery it makes this thing look, it seems likely that it’ll also be harder to see what’s happening behind you.
So it kinda sucks in a pretty way.
This tree was around for the rise and fall of entire civilizations before it finally joined them.
One can only imagine how much they would have to tell us if trees could talk.
This woman had enough children to show us how photography techniques changed over the years as she welcomed each one.
It’s pretty wild to actually be able to pinpoint which kid was born after digital photography became a thing.
It may be hard to tell now, but this was once a storm drain.
However, as this lot became abandoned, dirt filled the holes in it, which provided the right materials for the little accidental garden we can now see today.
This basketball net has accumulated so much grime over the years that it looks like it’s made of sticks.
It’d be interesting to see what would even happen if you used it now. Would the ball still make it through or has the net hardened enough to trap it?
The clamp in this welding booth seems to have picked up some passengers over time.
According to the welder, these are all sparks that became magnetized to the clamp, which gives it some strange new decorations.
To figure out how all this snow built up here, we need only look at what’s happening above it.
Basically, enough snowy boots passed through the grate in this footbridge to provide enough materials to make a little hill underneath.
This church spire was made from heavy lead tiles.
The weight of those tiles have caused the spire to warp over time. I know there’s a long time until it warps enough to fall, but I do not want to be standing under it when it does.
The moisture coming from these pipes eventually lead to these giant ice piles.
We all know in our brains that steam is moisture is water, but we usually don’t really think of it as water in the practical sense. That’s why seeing this ice buildup is a little bit surprising.
What’s in a name?
This just goes to show who we all consider important. The name underneath Isaac Newton’s signature has become worn out from all the people whose hands touch it when they point out Newton’s name.
This also shows the prevalence of right-handedness.
The paint and wood on this screen door has worn down where people’s right hands would grab the handle, while the door that left-handed people would reach for remains mostly intact.
Makes sense that nobody wants to stand that close to the pole.
Everyone’s feet and shoes have worn down this subway flooring to look totally smooth, but when you get closer to the pole you can see there used to be a pattern.
The signs of posters past.
Stapling a poster to a pole is easy, but getting that staple out is much harder. That’s why this pole is covered in the staples of hundreds of people hanging signs up over the years.
Man vs man, man vs nature, nature vs nature…
The slow and steady pressure of this tree growing under the rock eventually had enough force to shatter the rock and grow up through it.
The pen is mightier than the sword and the water is mightier than the cement.
Over time the water coming from that drainpipe managed to erode away the layer of cement covering it. Slow and steady really does win the race.
Poor Quentins, Quinns, and Tariqs out there…
The letter “Q” is so rarely used in names that this one has been sat on the shelf long enough for the color to fade. It’s kind of sad in a way, because anyone with a Q name is going to have one letter that looks totally different from the others.
