Tuesday, December 18, 2007

the end,crisp, name

In, I am afraid, a childish way, I have always been drawn to ambiguous notices. I like especially those, which have an unintended finality when taken out of context.. In a draper's shop called Roseby's in Mount Pleasant, a large, solitary notice announces: "Everything must go."

In the Oxfam charity shop, a jovial man in charge says to a customer who hands him a £10 note: "Nice and crisp! Did you just run it off?"

I stop for a coffee at a new coffee shop in the town called Ishmael. There is a long counter and quite a fuss is made about the different sorts of coffee and tea. There is coffee roaster in the window. No one else is at the counter when I ask for a coffee. "Give me your name," says the girl behind the counter, "and I'll call you when it's ready." A curious routine. "Dick", I say, "Moby Dick".

4 comments:

S.L. Corsua said...

Entertaining bits of info! (chuckle) The first reminds me of a sign I've spotted while taking a ride in the metro. It was a banner in front of a beauty center, and it said: "WARTS REMOVAL! BUY ONE, TAKE ONE!"

I still can't get over it. Hahaha.

tristan said...

call me ishmael ...

Fire Bird said...

The Manic Street Preachers had an album called Everything Must Go years ago. Wistful

Lucy said...

If you were any sharper Joe, you'd cut yourself!