Ken -

I missed the first bubble gum - splotches on sidewalk thread  -  I didn't have
anything to say that had not already been said many times about bubble gum
removal, etc. Now that you've brought the subject up again, albeit in a more
soul-searching manner,  I did want to express my awe in the face of the
quantity and depth of the replies regarding bubble gum removal.  I think more
techniques were forwarded for gum removal than for any other preservation
topic to date.  And clearly, BP-er's have spent a lot of time thinking about
gum.

What does this say about America, or American preservationists (as far as I
can recall,  which is not far, all replies were U.S.-based)?  Do we chew a lot
of gum? - Perhaps we're under more than the usual stress (I vote for that).
Do we frequently step in foreign substances because we're looking up at
buildings all the time? Being preservationists, do we have an uncontrollable
need to remove substances from building materials everyone else would ignore?

Mary Dierickx, NYC