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.

[rightofrush]

For God, the Queen, and St. George!

[Illbay]

ONLY if you're female.

[southerngrit]

Thanks for the ping. This is heartwarming.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Big bump!

Thanks for the ping.

[CyberAnt]

I believe the UK lost around 500 people from the WTC.

[SWake]

OK, I'm officially changing my stance on an issue. I have been saying for some time that the next time the UK is threatened by some invading force, I WILL NOT support sending arms paid for my US taxpayers to rearm the locals against the invaders.

As of now, I will gladly support arming these **few** shop owners.

[WaterDragon]

We, the West, really are in this together. Part of the reason I'm glad to read about the signs in Britain is because it shows they are honoring their own dead. There were British citizens who died that day.

[Michael2001]

Thanks for posting. God Bless 'em. On Sept. 11 we found out who are true friends are.