Travel is a chance to read. I don’ t have in mind the novel you’ve been saving, much less the stack of papers you foolishly thought you’d get to on that family vacation. I’m thinking of something much simpler—just the fact that part of the fun of traveling anywhere is the encounter with signage. (“Wait—I get it! That’s the word for toilet!” or “Look! They have a Cleveland here, too!”)
Reading signage in England, especially for an American academic, is a linguistically overdetermined event. A simple sign can evoke literary curiosity, charm, mystery, or terror. On a narrow country lane in Essex a pretty wooden sign (categories: literary curiosity, charm, mystery) points to Duddenhoe. I’m sure it’s a lovely place, but “Duddenhoe” sounds like the title of a novel Walter Scott thought better about writing.
Signs, of course, are supposed to help us, but we have to know now to read …