We’re always looking for signs, literally or metaphorically.

A sign from the universe. A sign that we’re on the right path. A sign that something is about to happen.

Meanwhile, the world is practically shouting at us.

I started noticing actual signs during my travels. Some were funny. Some were unexpectedly tender. Some were baffling. And some seemed to say one thing while the photograph said another.

In Helsinki, one food stall offered a wonderfully eclectic menu: meze, seafood, chicken, reindeer, falafel and kebab. Apparently, when in doubt, serve everything. Hopefully not Santa‘s reindeer.

 

 

Another sandwich board offered a much more heartfelt message: If you are reading this, I hope something good happens to you today.

I liked that one. No decoding required.

 

 

A bookstore had a quieter message: Read books. Buy books. Buy local. A small act of resistance in the age of Amazon.

 

 

And outside a garden center: We have plenty of cold water treats and shade for your doggies. They are most welcome. Bring them in. So sweet I wish I had a dog.

Then again, maybe not…

Some signs need no words at all.

In Finland, I came across a wonderfully playful graphic of a dog doing its business, crossed out with the universal red slash. Is it saying no dogs? No pooping? No pooping dogs? Perhaps the ambiguity is part of the fun.

 

Another Finnish sign showed two figures surrounded by arrows, apparently indicating a meeting place. No translation except meeting place. No explanation. Just men, gender neutral?  With arrows pointing to them, leaving plenty of room for interpretation.

 

Then there was the beautifully weathered garden door I photographed in Barbados, its layers of age and peeling paint a perfect bit of Wabi Sabi. And on this magnificent relic was a pristine little sign: No Smoking.

Of all the things to worry about. That was a head scratcher.

Another sign, written in three languages, announced No bicycles on the island. Directly underneath it was a small congregation of bicycles, obediently parked where everyone apparently leaves them before crossing the bridge.

 

 

And then there are signs that simply announce where you are: a lovely old Buddhist center in Southampton caught my eye.

 

and how could you resist going to a pub named the Titanic?

 

 

And if you’re a fan of manifestation or angel numbers, 11:11 is a popular one. I often we’ll see 1111, 2:22, 3:33, 4:44 and so on. I have one wallpaper on my phone that rotates with different images that I’ve taken, and If I happen to notice the time like I did with this one, I will take it as a positive sign. And if you need one here it is.

 

Perhaps that’s what I like about signs. They’re communicating all the time, whether we’re looking for a message or not.

Sometimes the sign is clear.

Sometimes it’s contradictory.

Sometimes it’s hilarious.

And sometimes, if we stop long enough to notice, the sign we were looking for was right in front of us all along.