PPM revisits Manchester's Belle Vue amusement park - Picture ...

Collecting Themes
Signposts
Liz McKernan points the way to the
right direction
As someone with a poor sense of direction, informative
signposts are always welcome. However, they
are not always of use. I well remember attending a
collectors’ fair in Normandy which was way ‘out of
town’ and deciding to walk back as it was all downhill
and a pleasant spring day. Coming to a crossroads,
the only sign I could see indicated ‘Centre
Ville’ but did not specify which town! Having
reached the fair by taxi I had no idea whether this
was the town from which I had started out or perhaps
another one nearby.
I took a chance and an hour
and a half later could see
that I had indeed arrived in
the right town, but it was
an anxious walk as I met
nobody to enquire.
Signposts are to be
found depicted on both old
and modern cards and the
subject overlaps another of
my pet subjects – Frontiers.
One of my grandfathers
worked for Customs and
Excise, so you see it is in
the blood!
(below, right) A frontier
signpost here alongside the
railway line between Norway
and Sweden. c.1933
(below) ‘The First and
Last Sign Post’ in England
is situated at Lands End in
Cornwall. The signpost
shows that it is 291 miles
away from London and
3147 miles away from New
York. The postcard was
probably bought at the
‘First and Last House in
England’ on the right in the
distance.
A signpost in
north-west Pakistan also with the
mileage given to various other Pakistani towns – and also
London – Quetta is situated near the border with
Afghanistan. Fort Sandeman was named after Robert
Sandeman who was made agent to the Governor General
in Baluchistan in 1877.
(above) An attractive Swiss
signpost in Brienz, a small
village on the shores of
Lake Brienz. The village is
famous for its wood-carvings
hence the many decorative
signposts there.
10 Picture Postcard Monthly July 2010
Another frontier
signpost this time nearer home. Posted in
Berwick-on-Tweed, a town I had mistakenly thought of as
being in Scotland but
which I have discovered is
now in Northumberland,
the card is one of a series
all featuring the same two
children acting out ‘An old
border custom.’ Apparently
Berwick was
‘moved’ to England in
1482 and now lies just
two and a half miles
south of the Scottish border.
I wonder what the
inhabitants thought at
the time?
(right) For some reason modern postcards of Eire often
feature signposts, sometimes just on their own as in
this example by Peter o’Toole but often shown with a
typical ‘local’ with either bicycle or donkey emphasising
the slow pace of life there.