Entries Tagged as 'U.K.'
No, the London riots aren’t really “funny,” but Rachael wasn’t the only one who found the note of gallows humor in this notice — from a U.K. Subway sandwich shop — to be worth a second glance.

Coincidentally, on the very same day, Rebecca in Cincinnati snapped a photo of this sign — which seemed to me like something straight out of The Handmaid’s Tale. Despite the dramatic wording, Rebecca says the chaos at hand here was actually a missing replica T-Rex tooth from a display at The Creation Museum (where she was guilt-tripped into going by her less irreverent extended family).

related: Are you ready for your Rapture party?
Tags: Cincinnati · don't blame us · U.K. · WTF?
“I saw this when passing by a neighbour’s house, and thought that this was one of their better efforts,” writes Kelly in the U.K. “I personally would have just chucked them myself.”
(Adds Kelly: “I’m guessing they belonged to the same person who decorated half the street with vomit.”)

Meanwhile, the Internet’s all “been there/done that/seen the animated GIF.”

related: If you were the one who was so drunk or so stupid that you left your camera in the park last night…
Tags: drizzunk · neighbors · shoes · U.K.
While admiring a “very nice” church in Edinburgh, James was only slightly discomfited by this notice about the measures being taken to ensure his comfort.

related: He died for your clip art
Tags: clip art catastrophe · God · Scotland
This physics lesson was posted in the communal kitchen of Oxford University’s department of psychiatry.
“You would think that these people would be masters of communication,” our submitter says. “Evidently, not so much.”
![A lesson in Newtonian Physics: If a spoon is washed in water, something it is very right and proper to be done, it still has residual water on it, unless dried. If the spoon is placed on the draining board concave side up, gravitational force causes the water to sink into the concavity forming a puddle that is dependent on evaporation to remove it. If a male (it could only be a male) uses the bepuddled spoon to make himself coffee, water may get into the coffee tin and cause aggregation of the grounds which are hygyroscopic. This is given by these equations which are examples of a chaotic system (a Henon map) [equations] The solution to this problem is possibly too complex for members of this Department, but requires people to leave spoons convex side up. A lesson in Newtonian Physics: If a spoon is washed in water, something it is very right and proper to be done, it still has residual water on it, unless dried. If the spoon is placed on the draining board concave side up, gravitational force causes the water to sink into the concavity forming a puddle that is dependent on evaporation to remove it. If a male (it could only be a male) uses the bepuddled spoon to make himself coffee, water may get into the coffee tin and cause aggregation of the grounds which are hygyroscopic. This is given by these equations which are examples of a chaotic system (a Henon map) [equations] The solution to this problem is possibly too complex for members of this Department, but requires people to leave spoons convex side up.](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2318/5824002603_b918944f98_b.jpg)
In Australia, meanwhile, it seems they prefer not to beat around the bush* — at least when it comes to wet spoons.

related: The Ph.D’s approach to air conditioning units
*bad pun intended
Tags: a little patronizing · Australia · coffee · college life · note wars · office · spoons · U.K.
How long will your slob of a flatmate neglect her fallen french fry on the filthy carpet of your shared living space?
Well, if your flatmate is Bex in Stoke, England…long enough for it to be transformed into a small art installation, apparently.


related: Grimace and the fry kids
Tags: anthropomorphism · cleaning · food · roommates · U.K.
First up: a peek inside the recently renovated dressing rooms at London’s swank Royal Albert Hall. Adds our submitter: “You can just feel the glamour, can’t you?”

Meanwhile, in the breakroom at Ashley’s office, even snarky responses get their own frames. Now that’s classy.
![[note 1:] DO NOT PUT ANY THING ON TOP OF THIS FRIDGE. THANKS! MGT [note 2:] DO NOT PUT ANYTHING ON TOP OF THIS FRIDGE EXCEPT NOTES TELLING PEOPLE NOT TO PUT ANYTHING ON TOP OF THIS FRIDGE. THANKS! [note 1:] DO NOT PUT ANY THING ON TOP OF THIS FRIDGE. THANKS! MGT [note 2:] DO NOT PUT ANYTHING ON TOP OF THIS FRIDGE EXCEPT NOTES TELLING PEOPLE NOT TO PUT ANYTHING ON TOP OF THIS FRIDGE. THANKS!](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5055/5580899135_d30b31dfab.jpg)
related: Please refrain from unintentional irony
Tags: clip art catastrophe · London · rebuttals
Abbey Road Studios is a must-see on almost any Beatles aficionado’s tour of London. Once there, a curious sort of tourist delirium seems to take hold. People feel absolutely compelled to recreate the iconic album cover, in the same way that visitors to Pisa just have to get a shot of of themselves holding up the leaning tower.
The only hitch? That famous zebra crossing actually goes across a fully functioning road — one with cars and buses holding people who, one would assume, have better things to do than watch you fiddle with your zoom lens.
Rachel in London was therefore more a little amused to see this note from a fellow local amongst the assorted “I <3 Paul” and “I am the Walrus”-type scrawls that cover the walls near the crossing. ”I love the drawing, as it’s so true,” Rachel says. “It’s just a crossing people!!! It’s not like the Beatles are coming back to see you do this!”

Interestingly, while the Beatles themselves aren’t likely to be watching, thanks to the existence of the (strangely hypnotic) 24-hour Abbey Road webcam, you can actually watch this idiocy as it happens — over and over and over again.





related: Meanwhile, on Portabello Road
extra credit: Photoclichés.com
Tags: etiquette · London · most popular notes of 2011 · that's disrespectful · tourists
Maya in the U.K. spotted this magnanimous display on a garden wall on her way home, in a neighborhood “that must be simply full of hundreds of passive-aggressive middle class Brits.” Says Maya: ”I was tempted to steal the daffodils myself, but refrained.”

Meanwhile, Greg’s neighbor in Washington, D.C. decided to go with even an more straight-ahead guilt-trippy approach.

Lastly, Fern spotted this scarily upbeat FYI while vacationing in Key West, Florida. (Adds Fern: “We think the flower just died.”)

related: Three cities where nature-lovers might want to keep their hands to themselves
P.S. Before settling for a ho-hum Susan Orleans reference, I must admit that when writing this post, I tried — and failed — to come up with an worthy Wordworths-riffing title. In light of my lack of inspiration, I was especially delighted by this bit of brilliance from shwo! in the comments section:
I wandered slyly as a thief
Who flows on low o’er gutter spills,
When all at once I saw a leaf,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the porch, beneath the trees,
I think I will be stealing these.
Tags: D.C. · Florida · flowers, trees, houseplants & gardens · guilt trip · karma's a bitch · smiley · stealing · U.K.