Work
I work in Edinburgh on Princes Street. I am worried by the frequency of people in summer (from all over the world) who ask where the castle is.

It's impossibly to explain without making them sound stupid, because the answer is basically 'THERE! FUCKING THERE! THE BIG CASTLE SHAPED OBJECT YOU CAN SEE FOR MILES AROUND THAT STEVIE WONDER IS SITTING POINTING AT AND GOING "HELL YEAH, THAT'S A CASTLE BITCH". THERE!'

Once I got the reply 'But that doesn't look like a castle,' from an American. They insisted on looking at one of our guidebooks to double check this. They had their own guidebook, but they bought it in Glasgow and they apparently thought that it might be an elaborate hoax. So I showed them the picture of the castle from the same type of guidebook that they had bought in Glasgow, and told them how to get there.

Oh and someone phoned up yesterday who didn't know how to go back a page on his Internet Browser, then thought we disconnected him when we put him on hold, despite my use of the phrase 'We're putting you on hold.'

Thank god for the mad smiling Frenchman yesterday who was so nice he offered to pay for the cost of the phone call we made on his behalf.
(thePontificator, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 10:12, 9 replies)

I live near a lake (as in you can see the fucker from my house)
I have had people knock on my door and ask how to get to the lake. I am yet to say, "Look at the lake and walk towards it, if you cannot see the lake you are going the wrong way, if you become wet you have gone too far".
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 10:19, closed)

The best thing about being a student in Edinburgh
was the complete inability, no matter how drunk you got, to get lost.

Even if you're so drunk you physically can't move, you can at least gauge your position because you are rarely ever out of site of the castle.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 10:21, closed)

castle
my girlfriend worked at the castle last summer between uni terms and she was astonished by the level of studidity shown by tourists...
(Clashrock is being stalked by his brother on, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 10:38, closed)

If
they asked 'How do you get to the castle?' I'd understand, because it's not immediately obvious just by looking (although, frankly, it's not difficult and there are plenty of maps available).

Sometimes you want to just tell people they have to climb Arthur's Seat and haul themselves over the battlements.
(thePontificator, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 10:42, closed)

Good idea...
Except then they'll be annoying all the hill walking people asking where the battlements are while a sizeable distance from the Castle.
(Skawt, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 11:25, closed)

Click
I laughed mightly at:
'THERE! FUCKING THERE! THE BIG CASTLE SHAPED OBJECT YOU CAN SEE FOR MILES AROUND THAT STEVIE WONDER IS SITTING POINTING AT AND GOING "HELL YEAH, THAT'S A CASTLE BITCH". THERE!'
But that might just be me!
( VandenPlas can't think of anything clever - no change there!, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 11:34, closed)

It's not just you.
*click*
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 12:02, closed)

Indeed.
*also click*
(anvil, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 12:17, closed)

Helpfully...
Whenever asked this question on Princes Street by some fat arsed clown wearing a jimmy hat and a Hawaiian shirt, I'd do my best to help them...

"You see that big house on the top of that hill up there? - well Edinburgh Castle is just around the other side of that. All you need to do is listen very carefully - queue convuluted route to get said tourise around the other side of the hill and a trip somehwere down Lothian Road."

Of course, if they were polite and friendly, then they did get proper help!
(libraryboy Cheer up, you could be french!, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 12:58, closed)