ROGER MORONEY William (call me Bill) Shakespeare would have quoth: ``to `e' or not to `e' ... that is the question'. But, alas, the Bard has long since shuffled off this mortal coil and it is indeed a most unwordly state of affairs. For atop the mighty hillock which beareth the name ofNapier Hill, stands there a sign which, for reason not known to man nor beast, nor council worker for that matter, declares the Bard no longer be the standard bearer of the journey way. Rather, it seems now and hereafter that the carriageway be a place to ``purchase the pear fruit and shaketh it' ... for reasons unknown to all except the hand of the printer of signs who such a pursuit devised. This is indeed strangeness of a mighty type. At the flatness near the hillock's flanks the sign declares it is the carriageway of ``Shakespeare' - yet at the crossing of paths with the Road of Coote the declaration be of ``shaketh pears' ... and not to the Bard a tribute. Oh, infamous fall from grace historical ... and ironic it be that he of words so mightily loft be spelled so mischievously, and deemed likened to the fruit most agitated. Which hand so grimly exiled the ``e'? The question stands, as counsel of the Napier roading courtier, of good and noble nature, unavailable be. Plain English translation: The final ``e' is missing from the back-to-back ``Shakespeare Rd' signs at the Coote Rd intersection.
