It’s a Sign!

I’ve mentioned how easily amused I am by wording and signs and, I’m afraid I mislead. The Iceland T-shirt read “ask me about home delivery”, same meaning but not what I recalled.

Saw a van this morning with the company name along both sides, either they’ve got a good sense of fun or can’t see the woods for the trees. C.E.S. (Poole) it said. Anyone else see cesspool?

I was doing a little research yesterday for a bike piece I was writing, the hook being that Fonzie’s bike, from the TV series ‘Happy Days’, is going to auction. The story ran online and in most papers, what I was concentrating on was that it isn’t the bike that he rode, it was one of a few. The character started out on a Harley but switched to a lighter weight Triumph because the actor, Henry Winkler, wasn’t able to master riding a motorcycle and the crew had to push him onto scenes.

I’d remembered that the actor managed to have some of the ‘causes’ (my word, not his) that he believed in and supported featured on the show as ‘civic involvement’ that his character supported. One was that he hired a wheelchair user to work in his garage. Not a big thing now, but in the 1970s and early 80s people with ‘challenges’ were rarely seen on TV.

I didn’t watch much TV then and still don’t, so I didn’t see the episode when The Fonz learnt sign language so he could communicate with a deaf character in the show. Don’t know if that was a one off or running story, but ‘Sesame Street’ was the only programme I knew that featured anything to do with signing back then.

And, on the subject of signing, I’m delighted and proud to say that Sue has passed Level 1 BSL.

Brilliant, she worked hard and deserves the qualification.

Now she’s trying to find somewhere running Level 2, without much success.

A personal moan – why is it so hard for deaf and hearing impaired people to learn BSL? Courses are few and far between and cost a hell of a lot. It’s unfair that signing is regarded as a second language instead of a necessary aid to communication.