Favorite Fotos: Careful on those bikes!

I felt like posting something a bit more lighthearted after the two days of war memorials, and so I dipped back into my sign collection. Two of the small categories I've sorted the photos into rather go together—bicycles and general safety notices—so they provide the basis for today's entry.

The sign at the right, taken next to the Wellington Arch, in a very busy area for all kinds of transport (as you can see on the street-crossing lights at the left), displays a worthy message. The "be aware" sign isn't on the road, though, where you might think it's aimed at motorists, but on a pedestrian (and equine) walkway. In London, pedestrians do need to be aware of cyclists at all times, for their own benefit as well as the bike-riders. Unlike cars, bikes usually come upon you silently as you think it's finally safe to cross the street, and I had a couple of close calls with them myself.

Before getting to London, I thought taking a bike tour of part of the city sounded like fun. And there might be some areas where it would be. But after seeing the way they weave in and out of traffic, between lorries and buses, and speeding down bumpy streets—you'll never get me on a bike in London now. The rides we had in Potsdam with our German friends were hair-raising enough for me, and that's a pretty sleepy little village compared with London. So take the following, rather mysteriously-worded sign to heart....

Since I know this photo was taken in Bishop's Park, I'm fairly confident it does refer to bicycles, but taken out of context, couldn't it also be talking about economic cycles? climate cycles?

Cyclists are subject to all kinds of admonitions themselves, such as the "dismount" command on the sign shown on the left in a Kensington neighborhood. I was a bit lost when I took the photo, as I thought it would be easy to find a way from Hyde Park back to the classroom building on Cromwell Road without taking the major streets I was comfortable with. But when little streets do what this one does, unexpectedly....well, fortunately I found a helpful parking meter reader who told me how to exit the maze, and it did involve walking through this tiny gate, where I was glad any cyclists I might have encountered would have been dismounted.

Here's another sign aimed at cyclists. I believe this one was taken in either Cambridge or Oxford where, when classes are in session, you literally take your life in your hands crossing any street at any time due to the constant flow of bike-riders. But at least you'd be safe in this archway, at least theoretically.

On to more general safety notices, among which my favorite is this one on the left. I love the linguistic precision with which its warning is given: you're informed that there's not just a little danger involved, but danger of death. I don't remember where this photo was taken exactly, although I think it was just somewhere along a sidewalk, but you see similar signs not infrequently in London associated with gates, doors, and construction sites (which are quite plentiful).

The next two signs were taken at small train stations in East Anglia, either Whittlesford, which is the nearest station to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, or Kelvedon, which is nearest Earls Colne. We didn't have trouble with slippery stairs leading over the tracks to the right platform at these stations, but I did experience the turbulence caused by a passing train (and it won't surprise you to learn that not all the trains stop at Whittlesford Parkway or Kelvedon). I had followed the sign's advice and wasn't standing near the edge, and I'm glad I wasn't. The force of the air displaced by the rushing train was quite astounding!














Finally, a sign from another form of mass transit, this time the tour bus we took to a rugby match in suburban London with my class. Something just struck me funny about the wording of what I assume are instructions for emergency escape from the top of the double-decker. What happens if you don't have a hammer on you? And mighn't those remnants be a bit sharp?