h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A566011

After travelling on the Circle Line just today, I realised that this line is wholly different to any of the others and requires its own entry.

This contains a brief history, a few tips to survive and a few ways to disperse the boredom of tube travel.

Changing tack from my last entry to be reviewed here, I was wondering what you guys think of it?

I'd love some thoughts please.

Just the one point. Under the heading 2.WHAT TO EXPECT you`ve written. It has NOT been known for people to be waiting 45 mins for a Circle Line train. Apart from that I thought it was a good piece that makes me glad I don`t live in London.

Just the one point. Under the heading 2.WHAT TO EXPECT you`ve written. It has NOT been known for people to be waiting 45 mins for a Circle Line train. Apart from that I thought it was a good piece that makes me glad I don`t live in London.

Apologies for the double post.

Thank you for the compliment!
Are you sure about not waiting 45 mins? I have done (and many close friends of mine too) on many occasions, especially when it is raining or there has been a very large problem at Edgware Road. It has certainly been announced to packed platforms at Paddington that the next train will be in 45 mins time; admittedly not regularly, but more than is generally acceptable.

On the other hand, you are right; 45 mins does seem OTT-I'll wind it down to 30 mins-which is definitely true

Now I'm really sorry-I totally misread the post-lack of sleep I'm afraid.

Ok-definitely deleted the not, and kept the 45 min wait.

Really sorry about misreading the post; but I'll try to read more thoughts much more carefully Love to hear them please!

That`s not what I meant. It should read- It has been known for people to be waiting 45 mins for a Circle Line train.You should drop the "not" between HAS and BEEN.

Yes-I've done that; sorry about misreading the first post, as I said in the above post, I guess I'm not really with it today-far too much sun

More thoughts gratefully recieved!

Love some more thoughts on the entry please

Where you have the names of all the stations, it might be easier to read as a bulleted list.

How about changing the title to "London Underground: The Circle Line" As someone who has never been to London, the title struck me, at first glance, as describing an article about geometry. Otherwise it's a good entry and very informative.

Enjoyed this article very much. I agree about changing the name though. Also, how about a link to this article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A48502 which is about the Underground in general?

Chig.

I really enjoyed your article, and, should i ever head out to the london, i think it'd be a useful article to print out and bring with. Good job!

Good article. Some points:

I think some of the mockery of the circle line comes across as a little over-zealous and jokey. Try to be more objective. The circle line does have problems, but what are they? (Flooding seems to be a major cause of delays, probably due being sub-surface).

What is a 'RAG week'?

Some of the footnotes are bit excessive and could be included in the text (e.g. 'in 1863-4').

The 'pints (for men) and half-pints (for women)' could be considered a bit stereotypical/offensive. I know some serious female drinkers!

How long do circle line trains keep running for? Do they really do continuous circuits for the whole day or do they sometimes terminate? When do the drivers swap over?

Maybe something on the annoying fact that Circle line trains are signified by 'eastbound/westbound' when this is plain riduculous (especially from places such as Liverpool Street). Where do they swap over and become eastbound when previously going westbound? (I don't know why they don't call them 'clockwise' and 'anti-clockwise').

Would like to see this in the Edited Guide though, I do love the Underground!

Thanks for all the comments and compliments-all gratefully recieved !
There should already be a link to the Ultimate guide somewhere...maybe my GuideML-ing still needs practice....

Sorry about the tone of the article-I wrote that one after a particulary bad experience on that Line-hence the slight venom toward it. I'll try and tone it down and make it more objective.

About the one/half pint rule-yes it is unfair and very stereotypical; I enjoy a pint of Stella myself now and again, and love schnapps neat(only way to drink it I feel) and still get weird looks from bar staff. Unfortunately, I don't make the rules on that one, but I'll see if there is a fairer variation.

I think that the trains run all the way round with no termination, with drivers swapping at Aldgate, but I'll check that one out.

And yes I do agree, the Westbound/Eastbound thing confuses the hell out of me. That will go in too.

RAG week is a moment in the University calendar where students do very silly things for charity, such as hitchhike to Paris or pub crawls. And that will go in to-but one could write a whole entry on itself....

Delays are so often due to random reasons-and as soon as I find out what's going on with the line at the moment, then I'll include what makes a delay.

Thanks so much for the feedback-I'm currently sorting out something else, but will alter the entry accordingly!

More thoughts will be gratefully received!

Thanks for all the comments-I've made some changes to the entry:

>trying to remove the jokeyness and venom from the piece
>removing excessive footnotes
>bullet pointing the list of stations
>trying to work out whether there is a faux 'terminus' to the Circle line, but still haven't worked out where the drivers change
>some reasons for delays
>the matter of describing direction on the Circle line, and trying to clear up confusion.
>a brief footnote on RAG week

Your thoughts please!

Excellent changes, this is really shaping up (I wasn't sure of any need for an Entry on just the Circle line when I first saw the title - but now I definately am!).

Some more points (mostly minor):

Where you have bullet pointed the stations, the bullet points run into the remaining paragraphs ("Technically the...") - this is probably just an oversight when you were editing the GuideML, but looks weird

Spelling mistakes/typos - try to re-read through and check for these, it makes the Editor's job a bit easier. Some ones I spotted were: "Techincally" "eeriely" (I wasn't sure how that was spelt so I looked it up, there's no second 'e'). "King's Cross/St. Pancras"

Other than that, the reasons for delays are great, the Short History is informative, the Tips are good too. You might want to say something in the tips bit about how the circle line shares many of its stations and sections of the track with other lines (Hammersmith and City, District), so you have to be careful you are getting on the right train! Also maybe a short bit on the different Paddington stops for the Hammersmith and City and the Circle line (different ends of the station).

I think the article tails off a little towards the end now with some of the more jokey stuff about the Pub games and the end paragraph (also the way that the circle line crawl is divided up is odd with a subheader for 'drinking' and 'rules..' but none for the actual game).

Other than that it's great, one of the more interesing (IMO) new Entries on Peer Review!

Oh and why does the link to the Ultimate Guide to the London Underground Entry pop up in a new window?

I'm not entirely sure of that....I'm a bit new to GuideMLing, so I'll check.

Thanks very much for the comments! Gratefully received!

Changes will occur soon (it's a Bank Holiday, so I may be some time...)

More thoughts in the meantime would be lovely!

Hello,

Well, I think it's quite lovely. Being an occaisional tourist only, I can't comment on all the intricate details, but it definitely seems accurate and interesting.

Yours,
Jake