"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:44:29 +0000, Ian Jelf
wrote:

Whenever this sort of thing comes up, I usually end up telling a story
or two.

I have had Americans confuse Windsor and Brighton, Oxford and Oxford
Street, ask for directions to Camelot and head off up to the Northern
end of the DLR in search of Shakespeare's Birthplace.

But then I've had Britons complaining *bitterly* that "the Dome isn't
next to the London Eye" , not recognise Big Ben [1] and try to get to
Covent Garden by standing at a bus stop [2] and waiting for a bus
labelled "Covent Garden" to come along.......

Taking Britons abroad I've heard complaints that Paris "hadn't used to
be this far", that the view of the Alps is "spoiled by all the mountains
in the way" and been admonished for speaking German to a hotelier when
sorting out a customer's problem "because I must have had something to
hide".

Even though you've posted some of these examples before they still make
me smile.

Overall, we tend to be more ignorant abroad than visitors to the UK are
about us. (European visitors in particular are generally very
knowledgeable and interested in Britain and its culture.)

Which unfortunately is the point. Even in "easy" places like Singapore
and Hong Kong you witness all sorts of nonsense or else a general
reluctance to "do as the locals do". I think I must be about the only
tourist in Singapore who deigns to use the normal bus services rather
than silly sightseeing or premium fare tourist shuttles. On my most
recent visit I saw some people (who were staying in the same hotel as
me) look visibly surprised when they saw me alight from a local bus near
the hotel while they waited for the SIA shuttle service.

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Can't remember if I used the buses but I definitely used the Singapore
underground. In fact.....

I was in the process of buying a house (in the UK) and my wife had sent me
some documents to sign. Two needed a witness. I went round the hotel
dining room at breakfast but people were from every country except the UK.
I gave up and went sightseeing (it was Sunday). I was on an underground
train and a (youngish, not that it's relevant) caucasian couple got on. I
thought "why not" so asked if they were British. "Yes" (they were Navy
people and their boat was in dock) and one of them duly obliged me.
Stupidly, when I got back to the hotel to arrange to fedex the documents
home there was a BA crew in the lobby ... had I waited around....

I admit to being a travel snob and I'm often irritated by the number of
brits I notice on public transport in some of the most out of the way
places.