Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Seven

Travelling up to the Midlands on Sunday afternoon we realised we hadn't bought a Sunday paper. I think we were suffering from 243ishitis in which the sufferer has no idea what day of the week it is from Christmas Eve until the end of the first week of the year.

The petrol station at Cribbs Causeway mid-afternoon offered us no Observer or Independent on Sunday (first two choices) so we bought a Sunday Telegraph. Now the Telegraph has usually annoyed me on the odd occasions I have read it since discovering in about 1988 that reading the Daily Mail was the main cause of my need for anger management therapy. But Seven. Wow.

Seven is the weekly arts magazine insert with reviews of cinema, theatre, music and a few related articles plus the TV listings. It's quite breathtakingly brilliant and useful.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not entirely related but hey - it's funny! Travel related anyway.
PS. I have always liked the Telegraph!

Travel howlers

Staff at the national tourism agency VisitBritain have been left scratching their heads at some of the questions posed to them this year.

These include such clangers as: "Are there any lakes in the Lake District?" And: "Is Wales closed during the winter?"

Half a million holidaymakers every year drop by the information office of national tourism agency VisitBritain seeking advice on how best to use their time in the UK.

At the Britain & London Visitor Centre on Regent Street in London's West End one visitor wanted to know: "What is the entry fee for Brighton?"

Another asked: "Do you have any information on (former Page 3 girl) Samantha Fox?"

Unimpressed by the planning behind royal homes, one tourist wanted to know: "Why on earth did they build Windsor Castle on the flight path of Heathrow?"

And taking the name of London Underground stations perhaps too literally, another person asked: "Can you tell me who performs at the circus in Piccadilly?"

Other geographically-challenged queries included: "What Tube line runs to Edinburgh?"

Encounters could be just as strange north of the border at the help centres of VisitScotland, where questions from tourists included: "What time does the midnight train leave?", "Which bus do I get from the Orkney Islands to the Shetland Islands?", and "Is Edinburgh in Glasgow?"

Some of the other daft questions posed to VisitScotland staff included: "Can you tell me where the mountain is in Scotland?", "Are there any curves in the roads here, or are they all straight?", and "Are there any Sheena Easton museums in Glasgow?".

Another tourist wanted to know: "What time of night does the Loch Ness monster surface and who feeds it?"

Anybody want to take aguess at the nationality of the questioners?

Martin said...

American - Who else would ask about bends in roads?!

Steve Tilley said...

Romans?

Anonymous said...

The Daily Mail is the main cause of arguments bewteen me and my Mum because she actually thinks what they print is true!
Pauline