Garage ghost sign

Two lovely ghost signs in Kelvin Grove, Liverpool. They're in the Welsh Streets area, the subject of controversial plans for demolition and development for over 10 years. I visited on a peaceful summer day. The rows of empty terraced houses stood proudly erect in a salute to past lives, and the signs were a gentle reminder of the everyday business once conducted there. Oh, and if you're a Peaky Blinders fan, there's a treat of a street there for you.

Wisdom and effort

I walk past signs like these all the time and rarely make the effort to look at the detail. This pretty milestone in Didsbury bears Manchester's coat of arms. Granted in 1842, the symbol is packed with information. The motto "Concilio et labore" means something like "Wisdom and effort". The ship represents Manchester's trading. The lion is of course a symbol of bravery and the antelope symbolises peace and harmony; both bear the red rose of Lancaster.

Most familiar is the worker bee - the globe at the top is covered with them; you can see it more clearly on this larger sign near Spinningfields. The bee is a symbol of industry, adopted during the industrial revolution. You can find bees all over Manchester, from the tiled floors in the Town Hall (a giveaway when it's used in films as a stand-in for the Houses of Parliament) to bins and bollards.

Pottering

You don't need to be a wizard to guess where I went this weekend. I had a magical time at the Warner Brothers Studio Tour of the Harry Potter film sets. And it was wonderful, for all kinds of reasons, not least because I got a picture of the Privet Drive street sign. 

The first sign of good times was the customer experience - every member of staff was clearly on a mission to ensure you enjoyed the visit. We felt welcomed. Everything was spotless, in working order and well organised. 

It was also full of delights and surprises. I won't spoil it for you by giving it all away, but they stuck to their brand and offered a cinematic experience for visitors. 

And it was emotional. The Harry Potter stories deal with the big topics of life. Love and death, good versus evil, choice and destiny, individual and state. Yes, it's a tourist attraction, and yes it's expensive, but above all the tour is a celebration of innovation, creativity and ingenuity. The sheer pleasure J K Rowling brought to so many people with the Harry Potter books was evident everywhere.