Grammer

Ok, so yesterday I was at a music festival with some mates and we decided we needed some cigarettes. On our way to the local shopping centre before the shows started we were talking about how smooth the 15mg Gadang was compared to the 30mg, completely oblivious to the fact that it was a public holiday and the chances of anything being open were quite non existent. Thinking about it now though, it was an Easter holiday, and I don't think the type of store owners at Top Ryde- where we were headed- would have been practicing Christian's, especially those at the tobacconist who were selling Indonesian cigarettes. Anyway, put simply, we were hopeful.

We got there excited and ready to light up and I left the car with a shopping list that had been written up (in the car) in the event of anything being open. No one else could have been bothered getting out and missing the next track on the chill out CD we had on, so I went on my own. With a taste for nicotine and the last song from the CD still going through my head, I headed down the seemingly pointless set of ramps that you find at every shopping centre- for the convenience of those in wheel chairs and the inconvenience of every body else. Don't know if you ever noticed them, but you spend twice as long trying to reach a point that begins to seem like a mirage, as you file down endless ramps in search of something as simple as a loaf of bread? So, after a kilometer or two of ramps, and having to dodge a few wheel chairs of course, I came to the actual entrance, and the sign telling me the shops were closed (they couldn't have put a sign on the road of course, that would have been to helpful).

Now, it wasn't the design of the shops I wanted to draw peoples attention to (if anyone's still listening), or even my disappointment at missing out on my Gadang's for that day (sorry, I know some people reading are trying to quit), but the sign itself (seen above). I've always had problems with grammar and spelling, so noticing this actually made me feel a little haughty at the time (after a giggle). But I think that was really the wrong response. While I'm sure this signs author probably speaks (and spells) in his native language fluently, a second language is something I have no experience of, and so am not really qualified to write about or judge. Put in the situation of writing for public consumption in a second language however, I think I would want someone fluent to check my work before it went on display...