my university ex
you know the map of the tubeline that is posted inside the train, ie the one you are currently travelling on, rather than the london underground map? the one where it is a single line in the appropriate colour with a little dash marking each station? and how those dashes are drawn alternately up or down from the line, so that there is room for each station name to fit underneath?

well, when we first moved to london, my boyfriend was firmly convinced that you looked at that to establish which side of the carriage the platform would be on and positioned yourself by the doors accordingly. it never occurred to him that (i) it was a very neat pattern to alternate one after the other with every station; (ii) after travelling even three stops he should have seen it was a totally stupid suggestion; (iii) it was just plain wrong; (iv) it would surely depend which direction the train was travelling; and (v) he was a total tool.

the thing is, though, now i am thinking about it after many more years of suffering the tube, it would actually be quite useful...
( rachelswipe with a fork, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 7:13, 3 replies)

^This^
I'm sure they could work out a way to illustrate - even if using electronic signs.

P.S. he wasn't so stupid after all..just ahead of his time.
(Galahad is out of his gourd on yellow bentines, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 9:51, closed)

Interestingly
they do this on the underground in Rome.
( evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 11:23, closed)

When I was younger
I thought this too, and my theory was confirmed the next few stops. Took me a long time to figure out that it had just been co-incidence.
(sanity challenged, Sun 21 Mar 2010, 22:00, closed)