In message , Ian F.
writes
"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote in message
...

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...559786,00.html
Some people should have been strangled at birth.

It's the silly season when PRs make up stuff like this to interest editors
who are struggling to fill papers but are devoid of any real hard content.
Don't treat it too seriously.

As I've written here before, the one about Windsor Castle and Heathrow
really does happen (and not infrequently, too).

I worked in a Tourist Information Centre for five years and this sort of
things is actually quite plentiful! (And by no means confined to US
visitors, as is sometimes implied. People from other parts of Britain
going to London get some *very* strange ideas about the Capital and its
geography!)

Oh and donning my broadcasting head in place of my tourism one, the
"Silly Season" in journalism has just started. It runs through until
late December 2007.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

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

"Ian Jelf" wrote in message
news
In message , Ian F.
writes
"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote in message
...

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...559786,00.html
Some people should have been strangled at birth.

It's the silly season when PRs make up stuff like this to interest editors
who are struggling to fill papers but are devoid of any real hard content.
Don't treat it too seriously.

As I've written here before, the one about Windsor Castle and Heathrow
really does happen (and not infrequently, too).

I worked in a Tourist Information Centre for five years and this sort of
things is actually quite plentiful! (And by no means confined to US
visitors, as is sometimes implied. People from other parts of Britain
going to London get some *very* strange ideas about the Capital and its
geography!)

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?"

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".

Nick
*Tricky to answer without cracking up!



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

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?"
--
Chris Johns

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

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 22:46:19 +0000, Ian Jelf
wrote:

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.

I'll bet no-one answers the question "Where are the 39 steps? bang!"
which ISTR being offered on a similar list of strange queries some
time ago.

Chris Johns wrote:

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


Happened to me when I was wandering down the Headrow once. Elderly
American couple asked me the way to the castle.... I checked that they
didn't mean Castle Howard, Temple Newsam House, or anything else of that
nature, and sent them back to the station!

pete
--
"he just stuck to buying beer and pointing at other stuff"

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


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*.....

"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?

"Do those boatrides take you on the river?"

Well, they could be on a lake.

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".

Keeps the cabbies happy, no doubt.

Mark
--
Visit: http://www.GoogleFun.info - fun and games with Google!
"Everybody's changing and I don't feel the same"

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.)

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?

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