Walking along the river Ayr path I found quite a very confusing sign post. There is an ordinary sign of a bike surrounded by a circle to indicate to me that this is a cycling route. There's no line through it, just an open circle with a bike. Then above that sign is one that says "No Cycling", and I thought,"oh my, that's odd, I should share it on the blog". Imagine if I didn't know how to read English? I mean, I know that the word "no" is quite universal but still, why not put a line going through the bottom bike signpost so it doesn't look like the cycling route signs. I also think that route would actually be very nice for bikes if it were widened and had room for walkers as well, not to mention safe. The roads here are terribly dangerous for cyclists.
This sign also brings me to another realization that I embarrassingly stumbled across at a rest stop along the motorway. We went through the main doors that brought us into a foyer where there were doors to go into bathrooms and around to the left was a Burger King. We ate at the Burger King, sitting near the window facing out toward the parking lot. When we finished I noticed there was a door for the Burger King with the usual green signs of a man running out the door that I had seen at all the exits we used in the airports here as well as many other shopping malls and stores. I thought it impractical to go out of my way to use the main exit so I decided I would use the restaurant exit straight out to the car park that was right next to us. I proceeded to open it and hold it open for everybody else that we were with to walk out with me. They just stood there with shocked expressions on their faces, like "why on earth did you do that"? Paul was with me at the time and he said, "Um... that's a fire exit". I couldn't believe it could possibly be a fire exit, there were no big red words on it to say that it was a fire exit and I said so. Then everyone pointed out that because I had to push a bar to open the door, it was a fire exit and "everybody knows that". Just about every door is like that in Canada so I figured they were joking, then I looked at the boy's face just staring at me from behind the counter with the expression of panic mixed with fear of not knowing what to do on his face. So I exited through that door and everyone else went the long way, who cares if by pushing open a door I apparently automatically triggered a silent alarm that sends a message to the fire department.
I came across this interesting little headstone at a local cemetery we walked through the other day. On it is a ship with the skull and crossbones over it. I've been told that when there's just a skull and crossbones on a headstone, the person died of plague. This one, however, looks different from the other ones. I don't think it could be a pirate's grave because it's in a kirkyard. It could just be a sailor, but why the skull and crossbones? Did the sailor die of a disease acquired while on the sea?
These are quite a few old flags that were in the church that we visited during open doors days about a week ago. This is the church that Robert Burns' family went to at one point in time. Below is where they would have sat. I began wondering if it was in this very church that inspired Robert Burns to write "To a Louse" seeing as it was written after "seeing one on a woman's bonnet at church".
anyway I thought I'd share this picture along with the headstone up top because the very loft that I was standing in was the sailors loft, where all the sailors sat during Sunday service.
