In message , Chris
Johns writes
On Wed, 3 Jan 2007, Nick Pedley wrote:

As some of you may be aware I work on that big white wheel in central London
and part of the job includes answering questions as best as we can. Trouble
is that some of them are, well, tricky*.....

"What side of the river is Westminster Bridge?"
"Why don't you put a clock up on a big tower so people can see the time?"
"It's one o'clock. Why did the bell only ring once?"
"I never knew Paris was so close to London that we could see the Eiffel
Tower from the top of the wheel!"
"Do those boatrides take you on the river?"

I wonder how many times the tourist information centre in Leeds gets
asked "how do I get to the castle?"

That used to come up as a Tourist Board exam question every few years.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

In message , JNugent
writes
John Rowland wrote:
Mark Goodge wrote:

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 17:22:16 -0000, Nick Pedley put finger to keyboard
and typed:

"I never knew Paris was so close to London that we could see the
Eiffel Tower from the top of the wheel!"

At the risk of asking another tricky question, what is it that they're
seeing that prompts this remark?
The Blackpool Tower, of course!
(Actually, Crystal Palace television transmitter.)

It had to be.

Did they ask why there were two of them?

I was about to post exactly that, which I've had once.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

In message , Nick Pedley
writes
As some of you may be aware I work on that big white wheel in central
London and part of the job includes answering questions as best as we
can. Trouble is that some of them are, well, tricky*.....

"What side of the river is Westminster Bridge?"
I've had that about London Bridge.

"Do those boatrides take you on the river?"
In Birmingham I was once asked if there were "any river boat trips on
the canal".

On a railway related note, try directing people to Waterloo or
Westminster stations (both about 400m away) when they're too lazy to
walk there. "Where's the nearest cab stand?" is a common response from
North American accented lard-arses, "I'm not gonna walk all that way,
it's too hard on the feet".
That's *very* common.

Other once coming to mind include:

"Why do the pedestrian crossings make that bleeping noise?"
"It's an aid for the blind."
"Oh, at home we don't allow the blind to drive."

People (UK again) getting *very* annoyed that the Eye wasn't next to the
Dome and wanting to know "why not" in an often quire aggressive manner.

On the flip side of all this, in the early days of the Eye they used to
have a member of staff in each Pod. The first time I took a group on,
I wandered if they'd allow me to do a commentary for my group or want to
do it themselves. I needn't have worried, the girl began her
introduction with "Don't worry if it stops while we're up there, they;re
just putting a cripple on downstairs" and ended with "Does anyone here
not know London and want to hear anything or not?"!

--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Mark Goodge wrote:

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 19:13:21 -0000, Peter Masson put finger to keyboard
and typed:


"John B" wrote in message
roups.com...

I was rather amused when getting the Tube from Oxford Circus to
Waterloo at about 11AM on New Year's Eve: a large group of weighty
North Americans bustled onto the train at Charing Cross, only to
unbustle again at Embankment.

Sadly, I didn't get to see if they were using paper single tickets...

I suppose that they could have been changing to the District/Circle at
Embankment. Of course, a Londoner would have gone out of the side door of
Charing Cross Main Line, and walked down Villiers Street (or along the
walkway and down the steps by Embankment).

Well, that is one of the disadvantages of the Beck map; it doesn't
give much in the way of clues about the actual geographical proximity
of some stations (or, in the suburbs, their lack of proximity). For
people who are already familiar with the above-ground geography, a
topological transport map is fine, but for those who don't know their
way around then it can be somewhat misleading.


In a way the Beck map is too brilliant for it's own good - it's such a
good way of displaying the Tube network that people have become wedded
to it, using it in unintended ways. Anyone visiting London should make
a streetmap an essential purchase, and then actually consult it! One
problem is that some people are cartophobic.

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007, Mark Goodge wrote:

Well, that is one of the disadvantages of the Beck map; it doesn't
give much in the way of clues about the actual geographical proximity
of some stations (or, in the suburbs, their lack of proximity). For
people who are already familiar with the above-ground geography, a
topological transport map is fine, but for those who don't know their
way around then it can be somewhat misleading.

It was a while before I found that it was quicker to walk from Liverpool
Street to Moorgate than to tube it.

Those who don't know the above-ground geography are probably better off
sticking to the tubes tho, even for what are short journeys. That way they
can't get too lost, and if they get on the wrong tube they can look at the
map again and re-plan their journey.
--
Chris Johns

Ian Jelf wrote:

(snip amusing anecdotes)

People (UK again) getting *very* annoyed that the Eye wasn't next to the
Dome and wanting to know "why not" in an often quire aggressive manner.

When you say "People (UK again)" do you mean Brits, or was that a
mistype and you meant Americans?

On the flip side of all this, in the early days of the Eye they used to
have a member of staff in each Pod. The first time I took a group on,
I wandered if they'd allow me to do a commentary for my group or want to
do it themselves. I needn't have worried, the girl began her
introduction with "Don't worry if it stops while we're up there, they;re
just putting a cripple on downstairs" and ended with "Does anyone here
not know London and want to hear anything or not?"!

When I first went on the Eye just after it opened we had a most
entertaining out-of-work thespian (an emplyment status that seems to be
particularly popular of those whom have a wont to 'tread the boards')
in our pod giving us the spiel. IIRC I think he even tried to joshingly
have us on that we could see the Eiffel Tower, but as the pod was full
of Londoners he wasn't fooling anyone! I think you'd be hard pressed to
find an Eye pod (geddit) with Londoners in the majority these days, but
it was certainly the talk of the town then as many dwellers of the big
smog first saw their habitat from this novel viewpoint.

"Chris Johns" wrote in message
cal...
On Wed, 3 Jan 2007, Mark Goodge wrote:

Well, that is one of the disadvantages of the Beck map; it doesn't
give much in the way of clues about the actual geographical proximity
of some stations (or, in the suburbs, their lack of proximity). For
people who are already familiar with the above-ground geography, a
topological transport map is fine, but for those who don't know their
way around then it can be somewhat misleading.

It was a while before I found that it was quicker to walk from Liverpool
Street to Moorgate than to tube it.

Those who don't know the above-ground geography are probably better off
sticking to the tubes tho, even for what are short journeys. That way they
can't get too lost, and if they get on the wrong tube they can look at the
map again and re-plan their journey.

The classic one is Queensway to Bayswater, changing at Notting Hill Gate.
--
David Biddulph

On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:25:34 +0000, JNugent
wrote:

John Rowland wrote:
Mark Goodge wrote:

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 17:22:16 -0000, Nick Pedley put finger to keyboard
and typed:

"I never knew Paris was so close to London that we could see the
Eiffel Tower from the top of the wheel!"

At the risk of asking another tricky question, what is it that they're
seeing that prompts this remark?


The Blackpool Tower, of course!

(Actually, Crystal Palace television transmitter.)

It had to be.

Did they ask why there were two of them?

Is the view of both towers unobstructed ? IIRC the Beulah Hill
(ex-ITV) mast is smaller.

In message , Ian Jelf
writes

I'd say much the same about any large built-up area.
Ah, then as a lover of towns, that's where we'd disagree.

Quite. Although the village I live in is technically a town, and I liked
living in Aberystwyth, neither is remotely "large".

The only reason why central Swindon, for example, is better than
central London is that there's much further to run to get out of
London...
If I were to tell you that I do walking tours of Swindon....... (As
well as a lot of other "unlikely" places.)

War zone tourism through Pinehurst and Penhill?

--
Steve Walker

Ian Jelf wrote:

In message , Nick Pedley
writes

As some of you may be aware I work on that big white wheel in central
London and part of the job includes answering questions as best as we
can. Trouble is that some of them are, well, tricky*.....

"What side of the river is Westminster Bridge?"

I've had that about London Bridge.

Hm, but if they asked for the station with that name and not the bridge
itself?

--
Olof Lagerkvist
ICQ: 724451
Web: http://here.is/olof