The internet has transformed many businesses, allowing them to promote their goods and services to customers in the comfort of their own homes.

Speaking of homes, one industry that has particularly benefitted from this technical revolution is the glamorous world of estate agents.

Now, thanks to their websites, we can indulge in the old Manx tradition of having a skeet round other people’s houses without leaving our own.

It was while browsing such a site, that I noticed a particular trend in interior decoration, that must surely be reaching the end of its shelf life.

I type of course, about the house rules sign.

Everybody has their own rules about the home.

I’ve been known to charmingly bellow ’My house, my rules’ at somebody foolishly attempting to cross the threshold while holding balloons. (I really, really don’t like balloons.)

Some people like visitors to remove their shoes when they enter.

Some people like avocado bathroom suites.

Some people like to gather together and perform a dubstep version of ’Kelly From The Isle of Man’ every second Thursday.

These are expressions of individual choice and fine with me.

As long as there are no balloons involved.

However, those mass-produced boards barking out orders irk me.

The trend started out with the actually quite charming Second World War poster advising people to ’Keep Calm And Carry On’.

Since then, it’s suffered the law of diminishing returns that always happens when something funny is hijacked by organisations not known for their sense of humour.

’Live, Laugh, Love’ screeches the sign in letters five inches high and I silently think ’Would it kill you to use an occasional "please" or "thank you" or " If You Want to"?

I saw one recently that stated ’In This House We Hug Things Out.

I hope the purchaser of that made it clear to anybody coming round to do work on the house, who might otherwise be in for a touchy-feely surprise.

To judge from the pictures on the property sites though, the signs full of commands are still on trend.

My taste in interior design is clearly as out of touch as my tastes in music and inflatable party items.

Until somebody comes up with a sign that says ’Please do what you like and thanks for reading this’, I will follow the advice of the Ur-text of this craze; keep fairly calm and carry on.