Two Identical Signs Carried By Two Young People

I was travelling on a bus going north from Waterloo Station. The route went past the grotesque KFC-branded IMAX cinema, and then the National Theatre as it crossed the river. As we approached Trafalgar Square, I spotted out the window a young man of about college age.

He was crossing a typically busy road near all the garish tourist traps. He was with a group, clearly his friends. He was holding a large angry red sign under both arms, which had something printed on it in large black capital letters. He wasn’t holding it up for everyone to see, he seemed to be merely carrying it somewhere.

I tried to make out what it said, but my view was obstructed by street signs and pedestrians and the other passengers. On top of that, the way he was holding it ended up displaying the message on its side. He and his friends disappeared into the rest of the crowd, and Initially I thought nothing more of it.

Later, as I walked near Shaftesbury Avenue, I was surprised when I noticed a stranger walking towards me. It was a girl about the same age as the young guy I had seen; she was on her own. She was holding an identical sign.

It was clearly the same size, same square shape, same colours, same font – possibly Gill Sans, in an apparent ironic mimicking of that wretched false meme, “Keep Calm And Carry On”. She was even holding it in the same way that the boy had been doing – carrying it like the huge folders I remember art students lugging around between classes.

Again, the text was presented on its side. Despite that, I was now able to read it. The message was:

STOP READING THIS SIGN

KEEP RUNNING

Two stickers from the same unknown individual, applied to separate street sign posts in Central London

ONE: A typical blank rectangular label, of the kind that might be used in an office. A message had been printed on it, in Times New Roman. The message was something like: “Please help me. The police are homophobic and I am under attack.” Those were not the precise words, but that was the general message, and that was the only thing written. There were no additional details, no email / social media / phone contacts. It took up the top half of the label, with a blank space underneath.

TWO: The same kind of label with the same message, but mostly ripped away. The attempt at removing it was clearly haphazardly carried out, and just enough of the text remained which ensured it was identifiable as the same type of sticker. The blank area was unaffected, and it had a handwritten addition from someone else in biro: “Not enough information – please explain”.

The stickers were found by the author in April 2025.

Niche Nostalgia: DOLL INSTANT NOODLES, circa the early 1990s (with chicken flavoured soup base)

The following images were taken from, of all places, a Youtube upload of Danny Baker After All:

I had completely forgotten these existed, and when I saw them again after thirty two years… all I can say is that I haven’t had a proustian rush like that for quite some time.

I remember the noodles being really good, and I always loved the adorable little figurines on the packaging. Incidentally, that’s why this is featured on the aforementioned BBC programme in 1993, as a member of the public sent it in to the show with the thought that “ha ha ha it looks like the serving suggestion is to have two dolls next to it ha ha ha ha”. Yes, that’s hilarious, dad.

Upon searching the entire internet (for two minutes) for a complete picture of the above noodle brand, I couldn’t find any images of them that dated back to the 90s. It seems this brand still exists, but now they have really dull and plain packaging with not a single kawaii winking dog-thing in sight. So this might be the first ever appearence of 1993-era Doll Instant Noodles packaging on the world wide web after about three decades…

…unless of course, you know different.