THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO AMARILLO

Sky photographs a sign in an area somewhat familiar to me:


That would be north London, to be exact. N. Circular is road signwriter shorthand for the North Circular Road. That is the name for, and therefore the same thing as, the A406.

When you see parentheses surrounding a road number on a British road sign that usually means that if you follow a particular route you will eventually bump into or flow into that road. So this photo was not taken on the A406 itself, but on a side street leading towards a cross road that takes you to the A406. So if you make this right turn here, you are headed in the correct direction to reach an entrance onto the A406. (So far, you're doing fantastic!)

But if you are looking for the A406 east BEWARE. Note that large "(W)", which means that entrance probably does NOT let you go east! You probably have to go straight on, NOT making that turn and keep to the road you are on now. That might lead you to another sign pointing to an eastbound entrance. Or then again, you may never find one. By that, I don't mean an eastbound entrance, I mean a sign. Usually, though, if you drive around long enough, you will find that eastbound entrance . . . perhaps even before your car's stock of old Kit Kats stuffed into the driver's door holder, bottled water and fuel all run out. Although, given the policeman seen in the photo, it may well be that 1) the traffic lights at that junction where you want to make that right are out, or 2) he is waving you off making a right at all, forcing you left or straight, because they have CLOSED the A406 W ahead owing to an "incident".

However, if you are happy to go west, can go west, and do make that right, once on that A406 W don't be shocked. Helped by the fact that nearby the road goes from two lanes to one briefly and then back to two, as well as for a myriad of other reasons, you will also probably sit in what can only be called (to the uninitiated) an absolutely indescribable traffic snarl. (The speed limit is generally 50 MPH, and there are speed cameras all over the place; but you might never get anywhere near 50 anyway.)

Don't lose the will to live just yet, though, as you will eventually intersect ahead at some point in time with the A1 and the A41, both of which tend to go northish/southish, and then with an entrance to the M1 motorway, which begins in this area and heads to the north of England. (If it helps, note that motorway signs are always in blue, probably to, ummmm, make them stand out better.) That white sign also generally indicates that if you decide to go that way, you will also be headed towards the Brent Cross shopping mall and the area called Hendon.

Yes, never before has so much information been imparted which impacts so many while using so few words. However, traffic planners obviously felt they couldn't fit a warning onto the sign telling you that if you the driver don't know the area and choose to follow that sign and route you are likely bordering on mildly insane. But hey, they probably tried, right? And the warning's implicit at least: I mean, just LOOK at that sign!  ¶ by Robert, Thursday, June 22, 2006