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The portrayal of Northern People and their London geography


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Old 20-05-2011, 17:02
Charlie Chuck
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I'm a Londoner, born and bred. Have only ever lived in north/northwest areas such as West Hampstead, Wood Green, Kilburn, but I still know roughly whereabouts things are, like Battersea, Chelsea, Victoria, Edmonton etc. I find it a bit lazy if you're a Londoner and you haven't a general idea of other areas and where they are.
I bet you know where Brixton is.
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Old 20-05-2011, 17:05
Charlie Chuck
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Susan had it right when she said go east for cheaper prices, although of course some of those items should have been bought at markets. The steak for sure. And they could have called a hotel to say "what's a cloche?" And, and, and...

....but they didn't.

I would have chosen two adjoining phonebooks (probably city and east) and asked everyone to start with those (making everyone responsible for one or two items each) - use the book, write down some numbers for leads, pass the book onto someone else. If you really can't get a lead, use your initiative (phone hotels to find what X item is) or only then use another area book... and then when you know where you're going, set out.

Simple, right?
They were not told they had different yellow pages, but common sense to me would mean they would combine information and then state SE is closer to NW21 or is SW6 near to E8?

Oh no.
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Old 20-05-2011, 17:39
bargepole
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The thing is, if you're trying to drive around London, and starting from NW London (eg Cricklewood), it will take you longer to get to, say, Lewisham in SE London than it would to drive to Birmingham.

The Northern candidates in task three clearly failed to realise this, which is why the losing team secured only 6 items.

Having said that, I generally find that most people under 40 are complete numpties when it comes to UK geography, blindly following satnav instructions without a clue where anywhere is, or what direction they should be taking.
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Old 20-05-2011, 17:51
flashwilson
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They were not told they had different yellow pages, but common sense to me would mean they would combine information and then state SE is closer to NW21 or is SW6 near to E8?

Oh no.
Well, the yellow pages have different titles on them and different maps within them.

So you don't need to be told they are different, you just need to look...
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Old 20-05-2011, 17:52
flashwilson
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Having said that, I generally find that most people under 40 are complete numpties when it comes to UK geography, blindly following satnav instructions without a clue where anywhere is, or what direction they should be taking.
No! I always check a mapbook before setting off, or if I hit traffic. And if I'm going somewhere new I check it on google maps and if needs be print out a map for the journey.

And I'm only 35!
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Old 20-05-2011, 18:28
Charlie Chuck
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Well, the yellow pages have different titles on them and different maps within them.

So you don't need to be told they are different, you just need to look...
Eh? I've lived in London for 10 years.

I no longer have to look, I just know.
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Old 20-05-2011, 18:47
elltridgefan1
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Having said that, I generally find that most people under 40 are complete numpties when it comes to UK geography, blindly following satnav instructions without a clue where anywhere is, or what direction they should be taking.
I'm a nightmare. I quadruple check any route I take and print off maps if I'm going somewhere I don't know. Saying that, I'm also one of these plonkers who has to read the map facing the direction I'm going. Perhaps there's a reason I don't drive very much
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Old 20-05-2011, 19:23
Styker
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I found Gavin's surname quite funny, Winstanley?
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Old 21-05-2011, 07:25
Charlie Chuck
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I found Gavin's surname quite funny, Winstanley?
123glasses.co.uk is funnier.

AoEIKu.canyouseeit.com would be better.
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Old 23-05-2011, 15:05
big_hard_lad
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123glasses.co.uk is funnier.

AoEIKu.canyouseeit.com would be better.
It's http://www.glasses123.co.uk
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Old 23-05-2011, 19:39
MARTYM8
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Fair enough people not knowing much about London geography.

But if you are going on the Apprentice which is set in London and always involves a task involving you travelling round London buying products you think you might try and get familiar beforehand.
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Old 24-05-2011, 11:38
denvertdino
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If you have never lived in London, you are not going to know you way round. Maybe an unfair advantage to people who are from London.
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Old 24-05-2011, 20:52
1066andallthat
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I'm male and lived in London for 5-6 years. But I didn't drive then - the tube can give a very skewed view of how London is laid out. I really would have no idea how long it takes to get from, say, Tower of London to Kew Gardens by road.
It's funny how, in central London, you can go down the tube, go to the next stop, come back up again and be about 200 to 300 yards from where you were in the first place!

The iconic London Underground map can fool people into thinking that places are far apart when they are right next to each other.

BBC4 did an excellent documentary on this. The first version of the map showed how it looked in reality but in the centre, everything was too close together to make anything out.
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Old 24-05-2011, 21:10
1066andallthat
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I'm a nightmare. I quadruple check any route I take and print off maps if I'm going somewhere I don't know. Saying that, I'm also one of these plonkers who has to read the map facing the direction I'm going. Perhaps there's a reason I don't drive very much
I use the old '80s version of the SatNav.

I use a £1.99 AA road map (always reduced from £7.99!) to get roughly to the area then I wind down my window to get a good lock on at least three or four of the satellites (or, as we called them, locals) and then ask for directions.

It's amazing. It seems to work every time.
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Old 24-05-2011, 21:14
1066andallthat
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I've never seen a site that asks you for your eye size! (Left hand side near the bottom)

1) <50 mm
2) 51-53 mm
3) 54mm +

Let me just find my ruler...
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Old 25-05-2011, 15:10
Timothy Bryce
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Getting from one place to the other on the tube is fine, you'd only have a problem if you find the underground itself hard to navigate (I often smile when the tourists are looking at the map for ages not quite knowing which line to use).

Out of the underground it can be bit abit more trickier if you're heading away from the central areas and lose track of how many road turnings you've done because it's such a long road. Generally though (as long as you have a good sense of direction) you'll find things easy enough. You can usually tell who doesn't know their way around London when they're always looking down and following their mobile phone, ha.

With Gavin, I found it funny when he said '"calm down" or "chill out" because I highly doubt he felt at ease during any part of the task, whether with locating items, getting around London, organising the team etc. He was just so unconvincing.
Why would you smile at a tourist looking at a map?
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Old 25-05-2011, 20:11
thenetworkbabe
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Quite true, but also just looking at the place you can tell it's an expensive area.

The buying tasks really do bring out the stupid in the candidates, happens most years.
Whats interesting is that the same mistakes are made year after year - they don't seem to watch previous shows or do any simple research like finding beforehand where things like books, meat, veg, clothes are. This year I am not sure if they were actually filmed before the last seies was shown - surely you wouldn't go shopping at Mayfair prices if you had seen the Truffle issue last year.

They are not allowed to use the internet to search (there's other things than google) but as someone above implied, they don't actually ask enough people (like taxi drivers) who might know either. They are seen asking some people, so its not ruled out, at least not all the time.

The whole task is a bit odd though. - it tests Sugarlike abilities to find and bargain, but the contestants don't start with the necessary knowledge young Sugar would have had .
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Old 25-05-2011, 20:46
Annsyre
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I'm male and lived in London for 5-6 years. But I didn't drive then - the tube can give a very skewed view of how London is laid out. I really would have no idea how long it takes to get from, say, Tower of London to Kew Gardens by road.
But if you were chosen to be an Apprentice you would be smart enough to do some homework wouldn't you? Unlike the numpties who get selected each year and look as if they can hardly find their way to the front door.
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Old 25-05-2011, 22:42
Sparklyblue171
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I'm from North London and when I was younger and going to school all I really used was buses and I rarely ventured out of the North side unless for school trips. But years later I got a part-time job which required me going all over London so I used the tube much more and I know locations of places, but I completely fall back on the service of the tube and buses, I'd be lost without them (maps would only help a bit).
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Old 25-05-2011, 23:53
DUNDEEBOY
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I suppose you could turn this thread on head this week, Southern people and their impressions of places outwith the M25
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Old 25-05-2011, 23:56
stud u like
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I lived in London years ago and have been back on business recently. I just multi map where i am going and get on the tube. It always astounds me though that Many Londoners still have no idea of life beyond the south east and find it amazing that I travell from Scotland in a matter of a few hours to be at a 9am meeting in the centre of London. I am sure if you dumped a bunch of Londoners in Manchester or Glasgow they would not have a clue
I've been to both more than once.
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