Mistaken identity

 Sometimes an English word triggers a French one and vice versa.

Two men were putting out a warning sign which at a glance I misread as menstruation. Men don't menstruate, nor do warning signs go up about it, although a man living in a house with several pre-menstrual women might see the merit.. 

I laughed at my error and took a picture.

"It isn't about measuring clothes" one of the men said. "It means surveying. But it is also what a tailor does."

I explained that I had quickly mistaken it for menstruation, regles. We chatted a few minutes before my bus arrived.

Then later on the bus I half glanced at the sign.

I was transported back to university when I was reading Ulysses or rather not reading Ulysses. I hated that book. Very seldom did I resort to Cliff Notes in place of reading the assignment, but there are limits.

I bought Cliff notes and half a century later I still haven't read Ulysses. If I live another half century, I doubt that I will read the book.

Now I wonder if Cliff Notes has produced a book called Beware of Pickpockets.