The kites are kiboshed in Shangai

You can't dance if you want to - you might leave you limbs behind

C/o Michelle's adventures in Florida

If you must be dodgy at least don't look shifty, Florida

Because you never know the methods of the terrorists, New York

No crying in Iceland!

Most places tend to be...

Just stiff upper lip it

My delightful cousin Duncan sent me this one from Ye Olde, England. I'm most pleased to see that the Secretary of the State is concerning themselves with such matters of sobering unruliness.

No old school irritations

Oops, it's been a while. What better way to make amends than posting a few fun prohibits from a work trip I've just been on.

So this first do not must be a good 12 or so years old because I'm pretty sure I was about 13 when furbies were all the rage, even longer ago were tamagotchis in. I don't think any of the below are actually still available these current forms and to some bizarre collector are probably fairly valuable. As a fun aside, blogspot is telling me that tamagotchi is not a word, the words it suggests include masochist and sado-masochist (and Tallahatchi, whatever that is). Although way off the mark as far as spelling is concerned, it seems oddly appropriate.

Qantas really should update their in flight safety cards. Old Plane, Brisbane-> Canberra flight

Brisbane Airport, Brisbane

I can't help having a chuckle at this one , in part because a bird is apparently not an animal and also because I'm just imagining what had to happen for birds to be singled out, especially when one considers the text . My guess is some punks decided it would be hilarious to keep the automatic doors open and somehow coax the birds inside. Breadcrumbs perhaps?

Prevention of comedy

But everyone wants to see the ol' slip of the banana peel trick! Granted it might spoil things considering that Landmannalaugar looks like a bit of a moon landscape (see below) where banana peels probably aren't going to blend in.

Cairn you stop that?!

In Iceland cairns were traditionally used to mark the way on roads that crisscrossed the island. These massive cairns are something pretty impressive* so impressive that tourists decide to make their own. These can actually be quite dangerous - it's often fairly foggy so can potentially lead you in the wrong direction. As a volunteer one of the jobs was to dismantle them so its nice to see that some parks stopped people making them altogether. This is from Landmannalauger, Iceland

*not quite as impressive as the inukshuk over on Baffin Island, Canada but cool nonetheless

A double whammy today because both pics are from the same location: a bakery somewhere in Beijing.

I have no idea what this is, I can only assume it means that you're not allowed to take in hot chips/fries into the bakery (which may or may not be symbolically representing all kinds of food). Even better though is the fact that you're not allowed to take cameras into this bakery. Why? As far as I remember it was only pretty standard looking bread that they sold? Some people get far too touchy

If it didn't tell us about the spitting underneath I'd wear the Singaporean Government had something against Fedoras!

No hiking on a conveyor belt especially if your movements are robotic and you're sporting a hat.

 Keflavic airport, Iceland

When perspective comes into play

Who says you can't get artistic and realistic in prohibited signs? This little gem from Singapore shows that you're not along to cross the road with PERSPECTIVE.

I like to think about the incidents that caused signs like this to be made

Underneath read "No raise of poultry" from next to Houhai Lake, Beijing

Just another 2 cm to the left

Another from Singapore though truly, I'd actually like it if things like this were around more frequently. Two main things tickled me with this, one is the very convenient placement of the man behind the prohibited bar, just so you don't see anything too risqué. The other is the representation of what he's evacuating is bladder onto - I know it's supposed to be a wall but 2D doesn't always work so well, so it looks more like a pole - that needs a bit more skill in the aiming department :)

This image is not mine (I found it on getup.com.au) and I only put it up here because of the power a circle with a line can possess as well as the silliness that I've occasionally pointed out. I by no means wish to trivialise the situation in Libya and hope that the violence stops and that a peaceful, democratic solution can reached. I can only imagine how horrific it is to be in one of the major cities. Be safe, be well.

I'd take my hat off to that :)

This was a fun one I saw in London, 2010. Sure it's graffiti  but I can appreciate the sentiment 

Ah the class

I can't remember the name of this jazz bar, it was quite famous and in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. There was another image of a boob grab as well but sadly my photo turned out all blurry :(

A picture is worth 1000 words

One of the things that is supposed to be so helpful about prohibited signs is that they convey to you, without the need of language, what you can or can not do. As a tragic mono-linguist travelling in China, I wasn't sure what this stopped me doing for 50m. I hope I didn't do whatever it said. Does anyone know what it means?