Unexpected Sign

People collect all sorts of things – stamps, mugs, registration numbers,…… you name it. One of the things a number of people in Africa do is to collect pictures of slogans on the back of public transport vehicles, or (unintentionally) comically worded signs. One of my favourites is one I saw in Ghana, while travelling from Tamale to Accra in 2000. We’d stopped off for a natural break, and at the gents’ and ladies’ urinals (yes, the ladies had urinals too!), were greeted by a sign proclaiming that this was ‘A Special Place to Free Yourself’!!!

I don’t however generally expect to see such things in the UK. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t normally happen. So, imagine the amusement a couple of friends and I experienced a few weeks ago in one of the UK’s oldest universities, when we happened upon this sign on our way up the stone staircase to the dining hall. It was just at eye-height, and to these visitors at least, its apparent meaning was very clear. The only place downward of the downward pointing arrow, was clearly the base of the wall! However, maybe it was because we’d all been in other parts of the world where that might be the case. The guide to the college could not see our point at all, and was clearly baffled by our mirth.