To be impressed by this?

[SmokeAndBone]

How well some people know the London Underground?!

There was a strike on Central line yesterday, and other disruptions. I phoned a colleague to tell him i was running late and over the phone he told me exactly how to make my journey from one side of London to the other, avoiding the strike areas. Which lines, stations, changes etc.

I was well impressed!

My husband is exactly like that. Will tell you right down to where you’re best off standing on the platform to get a quieter carriage.

We’re not from the UK, nor have we ever lived or worked in London (visited lots), he’s just a geek.

Some people just have the brains for it. My step dad is now a police officer but used to be a coach driver - well before satnavs and mobile phones. He regularly used to do the London to Scotland routes and vice versa and the minute there were traffic warnings on motorways he'd go off down A roads in some completely unknown part of the country and get them there hours early. He has had more than one passenger admit as they got off that they had started to panic a bit being in the arse end of nowhere lol. He still does have an encyclopaedic knowledge of roads pretty much anywhere in the country it still weirds me out lol

I think it's a British thing- there's a fantastic passage in Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island where he talks about being amazed how people can hold forth for a good hour about which route to take between two points, and when you should leave. Something he'd never experienced until visiting Britain.

I commute across London so could’ve done this. If he isn’t London based it would be weird.

I don’t mean weird! I mean less usual!

Wow that's amazing can I have his number

I'm a bit like this, not just for the tube but for travelling in general. I just love geography, and it fascinates me to work out different routes. I can also usually tell, within about 2-3mins,how long any length journey will take.

Btw are you sure he wasn’t looking it up online while you were on the phone?

I can do this too... But i work for the underground so its become ingrained over time

being the daughter of a blackhorse cabbie I've got loads of shortcuts in London never used a sat nav in my life !!!

black cabbie I meant!!!

Agreed it’s definitely a ‘some have it some don’t’ type thing! I tend to use the TfL journey planner if I don’t know (you can put in 2 places and it tells you all the ways to get there, and you can filter to avoid certain routes etc) - lifesaver!!

My husban D knows every single alleyway, pedestrian footpath and gap in the wall from Islington to Harrow. He hasn't lived there for years but it's like riding a bicycle for him.

Blackhorse cabbie in London. Brilliant fun idea!

I could have done this and so could DH. It's just from years of using the tube including going to school on it over 40 years ago

I'm a bit like this. But it's not difficult to put start and destination in an app and get a route! It's not magic.