How Tatty Is Your London A-Z

[Badgers]

Maybe as an experiment I will try asking kindly strangers for directions?

 

[Oswaldtwistle]

Forget A-Z. Get a Philips map instead (not a spiral bound one, a paperback one). One of these http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAnd...ilips+Street+Atlas+London+-9780540090365.html

Will crease but won't fall apart. Good mapping, clearly shows banned turns in the centre if you are driving and is easy to read.

Trust me. I'm an anorak

 

[5t3IIa]

Maybe as an experiment I will try asking kindly strangers for directions?

I profile strangers quite staunchly when I'm asking for directions. For instance: it's not ideal to ask the chaps in the corner shop for directions to a nearby pub as they are unlikely to know.

 

[Bungle73]

Mine is in pretty good condition, except I had to rebind the cover and first couple of pages with sellotape, which I did a while ago and it's coming apart again. I guess I should buy a new one as its 13 years old now!

 

[Agent Sparrow]

When I lived in a big shared house for about 2 years I suddenly discovered I had 3 A-Zs, and none of them was the one I had purchased when I first moved there! By the time I had moved out two years later I was down to none. Therefore I have a theory that like lighters and biros, A-Zs have lives of their own (at least in my hands anyyway).

My current one is in a pretty good state apart from a few turned over corners and one cycle route marked on it , but then it is also pretty new. I think the life of A-Zs depends on whether you get the bound version or spiral bound ones.

 

[Boycey]

When I was a courier I would on average forget my a-z once every 2-3 weeks. This meant I probably had one of the largest collections of identical a-zs in London.

you muppet

me too until i could go months without needing one.

my A to Z is completely fucked, fortunately the missing bits are the shite bits of london i never go to in the west. this technically makes it a lightweight racing A to Z.

 

[Boycey]

"The thing might as well be kept in a carrier bag but had it a while"



i used to know people who kept their A to Zs in carrier bags to protect them from failing water protection in courier bags and possible scuffage from boxes and parcels, but that doesn't seem to be what you mean.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

my A to Z is completely fucked, fortunately the missing bits are the shite bits of london i never go to in the west. this technically makes it a lightweight racing A to Z.

I'm intreagued as to how you lost the bits you never used as opposed to the bits you use all the time (which is what usually has happened to me). Did you take them out on purpose?

 

[Boycey]

it was third or fourth hand when it was given to me.

 

[davesgcr]

Buying one when you come to London is a right of passage.

mine cost 15p ....

 

[Boycey]

you're really old

 

[Agent Sparrow]

Well, at least it was post decimilisation.

 

[Boycey]

this is true, my first one was 12.50 but that was a large one, i had to get it because the little one didn't go to sydenham.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

That certainly must have been a large one! My very new one only cost me £5.50.

Unless it had A roads plated in gold or something.

(I have been caught out in the past because mine doesn't go down to Purley).

 

[Boycey]

big and hardback, i thought it was awesome. then i realised how heavy it was, how much space it took up and how much of a muppet i looked opening said giant A-Z to find queen st ec4.

 

[moose]

I don't own one because a) London is rubbish, and b) I just look it up on my phone if I need to find anything.

 

[Oswaldtwistle]

Do cycle riders tend to use SatNav, or are there too many issues with weight, battery life etc?

 

[Agent Sparrow]

Do cycle riders tend to use SatNav, or are there too many issues with weight, battery life etc?

I've had it suggested to me when I've had to do visits for work, but I can't be arsed, and am slightly worried if I got one it would forget I was a bike and send me down duel carriageways.

Tbh, for my purposes the tfl bike journey planner maps have always been fairly good, apart from the few times when they try and send you across a path that doesn't exist. Bit fiddly too, but good for pointing out cycle friendly routes when you're still uncertain about an area.