Cambridge: Home of Anglia Ruskin University

I spotted this sign while on the train to Ely recently:




Cambridge, home of Anglia Ruskin University.

Wait a minute - isn't there another university in Cambridge too? I can't for the life of me remember what it's called...

For all your moroting magazine needs...

My colleague Clutchslip took this photo in WH Smith (sorry, I mean WHSmith):



The particular moroting magazines I work for aren't on display here. Wait, there's one of them in the rocner...

Google Maps wants me to swim to Glasgow

So I wanted to get from London Victoria to London Charing Cross, and asked Google Maps for "walking" directions. This is what it gave me:



Yes, my destination is now Charing Cross in Glasgow – slightly out of the way (but arguably my fault). It also appears that I have to swim there. At least I get a stopover in Belgium!

To be fair, Google Maps did provide me with the following warning:

Walking directions are in beta.
Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.

How true – there aren't many sidewalks or pedestrian paths in the North Sea...

Please maintain the cleansiness of the toilets

Here's another photo taken by Clutchslip, this time in France:



(As you may have guessed, I'm away this weekend – normal service will be resumed tomorrow. And for the record, I really like the word 'cleansiness'.)

Police seize nipple clamps in council offices

Clutchslip has very kindly sent us the following photo. He says: "Seen in Horsham – I'd love to know the original story."




I've had a quick look on the West Sussex County Times (Horsham Today) website but to no avail...

And are there any other shots of 'personalised' newspaper billboards out there?

Photo special: way out sign (upside down)

Not strictly an example of interesting language use but I thought it was worth sharing:



I took this photo at London Bridge railway station.

The part of the sign with yellow writing constantly rotates, displaying three different messages in turn.

On the day I took the picture, one of the messages - and as I recall, only one of the messages - was appearing upside down, as shown. Brilliant.

The anti-pigeon spikes on the top of the sign confirm which way is up...

Photo special: '20p per unit'

Spotted this in a hotel room recently (the Cathedral Gate Hotel in Canterbury, if I recall correctly):


The note on the phone reads '20p per unit' - but what does a unit get you? There's no indication, so the information that a unit costs 20p is entirely unhelpful.

Or is there such a thing as a widely known, standard 'telephone unit'?

Photo special: our business is exploding

Seeing as it's a bank holiday today I thought I would run another 'photo special'.

This business card was pushed through my door recently:



I don't know about you, but if my business was exploding I would probably call the emergency services rather than seek help via the rather slower medium of the business card...