Lost in Translation # 4

There's a lovely moment in Cider with Rosie, where Laurie Lee is told  wait there for the present on his first day at school and he waits, and waits, but there is no present...

I was reminded of this when we were in France over the summer. We saw this sign in a railway siding,

according to my schoolgirl French, it appears to say (though I'm sure it doesn't) stop for pudding - a welcome instruction for an engine driver, or anybody else for that matter.

My excuse for including it in my writing blog is because I love the intricacies and surprises of our own language – that is the essence of being a writer – but when it collides with another, the delights can be irresistible. Things are sometimes lost in translation, but more often than not they are found, as well.