Signs of Life in Britain

Among the many small differences between home and here are the signs one sees. Signs are always fascinating--road signs, commercial signs, whatever--because they give a unique window into culture. One can learn a lot about a society and its values by the things it chooses to indicate through signs, and even by the way those signs are created and displayed. Here are but a few of the signs we've found interesting, from the regular, everyday variety through to the more unusual.

What we might call a divided road or highway in Canada is called a "dual carriageway" here (sorry, no horse-drawn carriages in sight--except one I saw in London delivering the Queen's mail... but that's a different story for another time). This picture shows a sign announcing that the road is now dividing with a median between the two directions of traffic, and the arrow indicates that one is to stay to the left of the median (the UK, of course, being a left-sided driving nation).

This picture shows another common sight. Again, the arrow indicates to stay left, but these particular lighted pillars can also be used as in this case to indicate an unofficial(?) pedestrian crossing, not one where traffic is required to stop.

One of the things we've had some difficulty getting used to is the street signs. In western Canada, and even from what we've seen elsewhere in Canada and North America, major roads are announced with large signs indicating the name of the upcoming road, and on regular streets one sees road signs up on a pole on at least one corner of every intersection. Not so here. All main routes are assigned a unique number, but each route may involve several different roads, each with its own name. Signs will announce the route number, but not necessarily the road names. For example, if you follow the A4040 route through our neighborhood, it will take you zig-zagging through the following roads within only a couple square miles: southeast on Harborne Lane, Oak Tree Lane, Linden Road, and Watford Road (all basically the same road so far), then turning sharply northeast on Pershore Road, splitting to Fordhouse Lane, off to Vicarage Road, down Howard Road, up Wheeler's Lane...

As for regular street signs giving the names of these roads, one finds them if one looks for them, but they're not often easy to spot. Usually they are somewhere near but not at an intersection, only a couple feet off the ground. Birmingham has two types of these street signs, the older, more interesting variety and the newer, more functional ones. Here are two local examples.

A common sign in Selly Oak, with its transient student population, is the "To Let" sign indicating homes or flats (apartments) for rent. In Canada this would more likely be "For Rent." Given the use of "toilet" here for what we would call more euphemistically a "washroom" back home, we cannot tell you how many times we've been tempted to add an "i" in the space between the words--especially when little Matthew suddenly needs one and there's none to be found!

One thing you won't find in Britain are fire hydrants--at least not the red or yellow, above-ground, dog-marking variety. Here fire hydrants are below ground, accessible by a panel and marked by a simple "H."

Now for more unusual fare. The first is the name of a side street in the city centre, leaving one to wonder at the history of the name (did it originally have a more official name, but popular use won out over civic?).

The second is a wonderful sign inside the "Gentlemen"'s washroom (um, "toilet") at Moor Street Station, keeping gentlemen from unwittingly committing a severe social faux pas.