“The greater part of the world's troubles are due to questions of grammar”
Michel de Montaigne
One of the wonderful things about technology of the 21st century is being able to read up to the minute, cutting edge news, via your portable telephone device upon London public transport.
I had the pleasure of reading this article on the ITN website and for once smiled rather than winced.
"A former soldier is waging a one-man war on poor use of the English language after picking up a paintbrush to correct the grammar on his own street's signs.
Stefan Gatward added an apostrophe to two of his "St Johns Close" signs so they read "St John's Close".
But his efforts to improve the punctuation on the signs in his cul-de-sac were greeted with mixed feelings, with some neighbours calling it vandalism.
Mr Gatward, 62, who served for four years with 1st Battalion, the Gordon Highlanders, said: "It niggled me for the 14 months I've lived here. I thought if it doesn't appear corrected before long, I'll paint the damn thing myself. I did it very neatly with a brush."
He added: "Are we in England fighting for our heritage or are we going to let it drop into the sea?"
Stefan Gatward added an apostrophe to two of his "St Johns Close" signs so they read "St John's Close".
But his efforts to improve the punctuation on the signs in his cul-de-sac were greeted with mixed feelings, with some neighbours calling it vandalism.
Mr Gatward, 62, who served for four years with 1st Battalion, the Gordon Highlanders, said: "It niggled me for the 14 months I've lived here. I thought if it doesn't appear corrected before long, I'll paint the damn thing myself. I did it very neatly with a brush."
He added: "Are we in England fighting for our heritage or are we going to let it drop into the sea?"
This man is my new personal hero.
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