Signs of the Times

The signs here are often a bit difficult to understand. They have pictures, but the pictures are sometimes a tad ambiguous … or maybe just that you could take them a couple of ways.

Some of the signs we’ve found here have taken some imagination to put a purpose to. We have the “It’s ok to take stuff out of your trunk now” sign; and the one that seems to say “Run for your life!!!” These are found spaced frequently all along the freeways with the arrows going both ways. They actually lead to doors in the sound barriers so that you can safely rejoin society … who knew?!?

The bottom signs at the railway crossings are new. It literally says “If you want to live, wait here”. At least 5 suicides are committed on the rails every year … just at the crossing up the road from Ad & Corry’s house. That’s a scary number! The signs seem to give you a choice …

The one at Kinderdijk was quite unexpected. There are lots of these posts in the biking paths in the Netherlands. They separate the right and left sides of the path. This was the only one, however, where they gave you fair warning! “Stick in road” on a caution sign. We are now fairly warned and will endeavor not to impale ourselves upon same.

This was the most poignant sign we’ve seen. We biked to Breda on Tuesday of this week to find a shop I’d seen. The city was a bit larger than we thought, and we never did find it, but we stopped at one of the many cafes along the way. This sign was hidden under a bridge. It’s a poem in Dutch, but translated, it means “See the waterfall, hear the words of the reeds as they touch like lovers, they speak a language that all can understand”.

Since the sign for “This is not allowed” is a red circle within a round white sign. When they put a slash through any sign, it usually means “End of this zone”. So, when you enter a town, it has the town name in white letters on a blue sign, and when you exit the town they have the same sign, but it has a red slash through the town name. Simple, right? Well, then … consider this sign. Even Ad wasn’t quite sure exactly what it is supposed to mean. If you take it literally, it means “End of No Pooping Dogs Zone”.