I have a bit of a thing for British signs. I have a bit of a thing for London in general, but part of the fun is all those signs that remind me, subtly or not, that I’m not in Kansas–er, California–anymore. Here are a few favorites.
These are ubiquitous and remarkably useful. I spent a lot of time striding around London, and it meant surprisingly lot to not need to pause at every street corner and remember which direction the cars might be coming from. Quick glance down to orient, quick glance up to make sure nothing’s barrelling down, and on you go. We should have these in this country.
I have a mad fondness for terribly polite signs. It may be a bit harsh to remove innocent bicycles, but at least they warn you politely first. And speaking of politeness…
And the wonderful thing about this is that it works. You can get on these enormously high escalators, and everyone is standing on the right and walking on the left. We definitely need to import these signs to the United States.
I don’t quite know why, but I’m slightly obsessed with this sign about ventilation on the Tube. Maybe it’s just that there’s a four-syllable word on a sign on public transit, when they could have just said “air.”
This is a movie theatre down the street from Sherlock Holmes…nothing particularly British about it, but just fun. 🙂
Do you have favorite signs you’ve seen, in London or elsewhere?
Have a wonderful weekend, and visit At Home with Books for more Saturday Snapshots!
Tales of the Marvelous 
I am only a week late! These are great signs. Leave it to the British to be “polite” with their warnings. Seems only proper. 🙂
“Very long book so come see the movie”–that is hilarious!
I think the one that comes to mind straight away when thinking of London is ‘please mind the gap’ that is announced when you’re on the tube 😛
Sydney got the look left signs for the influx of tourists for the Olympics. The standing on the elevator is a good notion, but I’m quite affronted that they don’t stand on the left, and walk on the right, which is of course, as it should be. I do enjoy finding signs when I travel- they’re often quite funny, and quite different to what you’re used to.
I really needed the Look Left signs – I was always looking the wrong way and expecting to get run over. Great pictures!
My Saturday Snapshot
Love the movie theatre’s take on Anna Karenina! haha! And those escalator signs surely would be a good move for here in the States!
Signs are a wonderful way to communicate effectively, especially when they are as polite as these are. Thanks for sharing…and for visiting my blog.
Those are great signs. I love the one on the movie theater.
Love your signs. They really made me laugh. It does make it seem that Londoner are very prim and proper. I think I can say that, as I live on the edge of London, and know that we aren’t all the time.
I loved those look left signs when we were there too, especially since it was natural to look the other direction before crossing. I haven’t seen polite signs before. When I’ve been on the metro in DC I’ve found that people generally follow similar escalator etiquette, less so here on the west coast. The signs that always made me laugh in the UK were the “way out” signs. It was too close to the hippie “far out” exclamations to not hear it that way in my head.
Lovely blog today, enjoyed your series of signs♫ Here’s my SS: http://lore-eleven.blogspot.com/2013/02/fun-with-sundials.html
I love your signs. The Anna Karenina one is quite funny.
THANKS for sharing.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Saturday Snapshot
I wish I was there right now!
Awesome pictures — love them all!! Here’s my Saturday Snapshot post!
I love that the theater sign says “Very Long Book SO Come See The Movie” That’s fantastic!
They are fabulous – I guess we Brits like our signs! I love signs as well – I spotted a couple of goodies along the canal towpath and took some snaps, so I might post them up next week. One is actually in rhyme!Thanks for visiting my blog.
I love how polite and formal the British are with their signs. You have a nice cross-section of examples.
These are great. Chicago could definitely use the elevator signs! Of course I’m assuming that people would actually read them.
Love the signs…yes, the elevator protocol makes everything easier if people will just follow it! Especially loving the last sign — good sales pitch 🙂
Love the Anna Karenina move sign. That is fun. The only sign I can think of right now is one down near the end of our street that warns motorists to drive slow because of deaf children (there used to be a family with a deaf child in that house) and it remains on the tree it is nailed to but has lost one nail so it hangs upside down. I cannot help but thinking every time that there are deaf kids walking around upside down in that house and I can never catch a glimpse of them.
Haha how wonderful! A little politeness goes a long way to making life a little more agreeable, doesn’t it?