A sense of humour. That’s what is needed. Actually, it;’s almost always what’s needed in my opinion. I was thinking this recently when i came across an old newspaper article i wrote many years ago about weird and wonderful roadside signage.

Who needs books, magazines or even newspapers for that matter when there’s plenty of amusing stuff to read by the side of the road?

I’ve been noting remarkable roadside missives for years, but thought this one I photographed outside a remote West Somerset inn this week took the biscuit.

A beautifully made biscuit, without doubt, given the information available – but exactly why the wife involved (who may, or may not, be the pub landlady) wants rid of her man, I have no idea. 

In case you can’t read it in the photograph it says: “Husband free to good home (OK any home) - comes with own kitchen utensils and apron. Not refundable. Sold as seen.”

In best journalistic tradition I did knock on the door, but there was no answer - so I’ve been left to muse. My hope is that the establishment’s close proximity to one of the largest nuclear power stations in Britain hasn’t taken any kind of toll. 

You know what they say about radiation poisoning – it can cause one to loose one’s… How can I say? One’s natural “urges”. 

I put that word in inverted commas because I’d like to discuss it further later in this article - but perhaps you’d best not get on to that bit until AFTER you’ve had your breakfast. 

In the meantime, let’s talk funny roadside messages. There has been an ever increasing rash of such missives ever since the death of Princess Diana – after tons of flowers were deposited in great shows of public grief both at the scene of her tragic death in Paris and at Buckingham Palace, symbols of public emotion have become the norm where they once would have been frowned upon. 

And the habit soon grew from floral tributes and mini-shrines marking places where people died, to just about any kind of message celebrating just about any kind of thing. 

And so every day of the week you will see Happy Birthday messages hung up on motorway bridges or on roundabouts on the way into towns. 

Often the scribes behind these public missives add a hint of cheeky humour, and so you get things like: “Happy Birthday Frank – better do it now while you still can!” Or: “Have a good one Dora – 80 is the new 50!”

But that’s a genre of roadside messaging that has yet to inspire a chuckle out of me, let alone laugh. Perhaps I am fussy – after all, I once lived in America which is the home of the mad highway missive.

“Illiterate? Write for free help” was one of my favourites. 

“Eat here and get gas” was common, but perhaps not so strange in a country which uses gas for petrol. 

“Don’t take life too seriously – no one gets out alive” was the message I saw outside a humanist meeting house. Speaking of which, I once was shocked to observe: “Promised Land – Closed” in Texas, which to this day I still regard as the ultimate disappointment.