A Stupid Tourist
I was getting a Circle line train at Monument station, yesterday, when I was approached by an English-speaking tourist, who asked if the Ealing Broadway train at the platform went to Camden Town. I told her that she should walk up the platform and take a Northern line train. As I left a couple of minutes later on a train to Notting Hill Gate, she was still standing there asking the same question and I suspect getting the same answer.
All I can assume, is that she’d never been to a city with more than one train line and therefore she believed that all trains used the same platforms.
The London Underground may be a bit daunting, but staff and passengers will generally give you the correct advice.
The Anonymous Widower 
An alternative explanation. At university one of the things we did was go out into public places such as railway stations and ask for directions. Differently worded questions, and students who appeared to be tourists, would ask people and others would be observing body language etc. My own daughter did something similar when she was at uni, in her case someone would walk along the road, look up to sky and point and others would count how many others looked up.
Comment by Liz P | October 5, 2012 |