Signs In Shops In England

Samizdata.net ^ | 09/11/02 | Perry de Havilland

[Gumlegs]

Pubs, ladies fashion stores, restaurants, banks, cafes, mobile phone stores, boutiques, gift shops...

If you are looking for the real England, you will not find it in the pages of the Guardian, but rather on the high streets and in the shop windows.

I have just got back from lunch and what I saw on the King's Road in Chelsea, here in London, amazed me. There is no law requiring it, no government departments 'encouraging' it loudly, yet shop after shop are displaying signs saying words to the effects of "At 1:46 pm to day, we will be observing two minutes silence in remembrance of the atrocities on September 11^th of last year in the United States." Others are expressing memorial sentiments, still others just displaying small American flags. No doubt these signs will all be gone by this evening, but they are there now.

Some signs are hand written by shop managers, others were clearly printed by a head office... but the signs are there and they come not from above, passed down from the salons of the chattering classes, but from below, from the true heart of England.

There is indeed an Anglosphere and it is very, very real.

[MeekOneGOP]

lol ! Sorry about the mascara. I thought this was great to see the ordinary folks in
GB are right there with us. If we just had their media to go on, we'd never know
about this !

Thanks for posting this, ZULU !

[Gumlegs]

Amusingly enough, Rathbone was a South African appearing in an American film.

[EaglesUpForever]

Thanks, this is a heart-warming post. Bush was right to single out Britain as our closest friend.

[IronJack]

Thank you. And thank them.

[MeekOneGOP]

The grunts and Tony Blair are on our side. The last I heard, he was the one
stepping up and calling the shots. I would never call the British or the American
media "our Allies", LOL !

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you so much for the post and the pings. Maybe our courageous British allies can team up with us to kick the international liberal medias' clymers out of the press corps and back to Ethics 101...or cleaning toilets.

---

Consulting the Allies, Sept. 6, 2002:

...a poll released earlier this week, from the German Marshall Fund, on European attitudes toward US foreign policy. In a survey of 6,001 Europeans from Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, and the Netherlands, the GMF found that only 25% of respondents are flatly opposed to an invasion of Iraq. By contrast, 60% favored war, provided the US secure acquiescence from allies and the United Nations, while 65% believe that international terrorism is the greatest threat to their national interests.

"Despite recent press reports of rising anti-Americanism in Europe and an impending trans-Atlantic split," wrote the poll's authors, "at the public level, Europeans are in broad agreement when it comes to the war on terrorism, Iraq, and a host of other international issues."

[Clemenza]

I've never felt like I've had much in common personally with the English. Nevertheless, I am greatful for their support.

BTW: Saw a few visiting Bobbies at Ground Zero today. Judging from all of the Yanks requesting their picture, they were quite popular.

[Bogie]

Thank you.

[Vic3O3]

God save the Queen!

Thanks for posting the shots of all the shop signs. Nice to know the good old England/UK is still there. Been too long since I was last on the Sceptered Isle...

Prayers too for all the Brits who died in the 9/11 attacks.

[Illbay]

Agreed.

But there are PLENTY of enemies, not only among the media there in Brit-land, but among the intelligentsia.

Folks like Germaine Greer have been just nauseating since 9/11/01.

Of course we have our own lot over here--including some of our political class, who have done all they can to hamstring our efforts with an eye toward knocking Bush down in the polls.

Seems they'd rather have power than help our President destroy our enemies.

Then, they can sit down at interminable "Kumbaya" sessions with our darling Euros and some of our favorite UN freaks, and make sure we NEVER fire another weapon in anger again--unless it's to cover up criminal misconduct by Democrats.

[.30Carbine]

Thank you very much for this post. I knew, as I held my own 2 minute silence with my brothers at the USPS this morning that the entire nation was maintianing that vigil with us, not just in the government agencies, but in homes and businesses and parks and schools.
It was what finally brought the tears - that sense of unity.

I am awed and glad others around the world stood and remembered and prayed with us at that very holy moment.

[#3Fan]

Britain needs to do something about their chattering classes.

[epow]

An inspiring post, thanks for taking the time to assemble and post the photos.

I'm reminded of an anecdote I read years ago concerning then General Eisenhower soon after the fighting ended in Europe. He was standing by a gang plank on the docks in a French port watching a company of British soldiers boarding a ship to return to Britain. As the Tommies walked up the gangplank, hot and sweating profusely in their woolen full uniforms and loaded down with gear, someone remarked how foolish it was for them to be wearing wool in summer. Eisenhower nodded and said something like, "Yeah, but when the chips are down and the going gets tough there are no other men in the world I would rather have on our side." That still holds true. If we have to fight I want the Tommies on our side.

[ethical]

Thank you for alerting me to this. It was good to see and I will share it with others.

[RepublicanHippy]

Thankyou Gumlegs. Very much appreciated.

[MeekOneGOP]

Exactly ! Thanks ! The media sure didn't want to report that. But it was
uncovered and reported here on FR, wasn't it !?

[MeekOneGOP]

Of course we have our own lot over here--including some of our political class, who have done all they can to hamstring our efforts with an eye toward knocking Bush down in the polls.

Seems they'd rather have power than help our President destroy our enemies.

Yep ! Here are a couple of those that you're talking about......

f

[Dakmar]

You seem nice. Will you be my friend?

[rightofrush]

Thank you. This is the most positive thing that I've seen come out of the UK since Margaret Thatcher.