England 2014 - Signs of the Times

As we wandered about England in April and May a few signs caught my attention.  I like small mysteries and the little touches that show the difference between the US and the UK.

This is kind of a big deal.  You see these signs on churches and other older buildings. Evidently metal thieves really like lead roofs and gutters.  This company has some sneaky way of putting distinctive radioactive isotopes into the metal.  Scrap dealers can have the offerings of shady looking folks checked to see where the stuff came from.

This is from the same little church in Cornwall.  I had never heard of a Sunday School Stone before.

On a similar note, a stone placed into a brick building in Hexham.  This area was fairly straight laced back in the day.  Today it seems more or less normal, but if you compare it to nearby Newcastle on a Saturday Night, this would still very much be true.

As you can tell, sea side location is hard on exposed paint.  Seagulls love it though.

We ran into these ancient coin boxes in some very improbable places.  Sometimes when we were lost and in an area where nobody seemed to have been around in a long while.  Given the rust and the low returns I assume none of these have been checked lately.

This notice was pinned up in a village.  Here in the States a lot of elected officials have stopped having open meetings with their constituents.  They don't like to be told by their employers that they are a bunch of rascals and ninnies one supposes.  The term "Constituency Advice Surgeries" was new to me.  I like it.  I looked him up, Stephen Gilbert is not a physician or surgeon.  He also is one of 24 openly gay MPs.  He sounds like an OK guy for a politician.

Although I like the image I do wonder how effective "Officer Pup" is as a feces control monitor.  He seems more likely to avidly sniff the evidence than to make an arrest.

Hey, traveling can get lonesome.  This big lug in York was just standing there inviting a hug.