I met my German friend Chris in May of 1998 when i was making my first visit to London. Chris and i clicked, and at one point we were talking about our impressions of the British. He mentioned that an aspect of British culture that left visiting Germans aghast was signs prohibiting behavior that would be unthinkable to any civilized person but which the Brits were obviously indulging in or there’d have been no need for the signage.
Hadn’t thought about that in years, but it came to mind the other day when i wheeled the Segway into one of the BART elevators:
Kept the Segway on a short leash to make sure it was on its best behavior.