Catching the maps and Metros bug . . . .

Better than an Ikea store guide............

I fear I've caught something from The B.

I hadn't considered this particular condition to be contagious.

I might have made a mistake.

It's not the ailment that sidelined him last week, that has passed, although The G's fight for full fitness continues.

This, more an obsession than an illness.

You might perhaps recall that The B has a long-standing interest in buses, trains and trams.

In recent times, this has manifested itself in a fast-growing collection of timetables, route maps and other assorted transport-related leaflets.

It's not unusual for The B to choose the timetable for the 306 to read at bedtime.

It's not behaviour that has ever been encouraged.
Until now, that is.

You see, strange as it might seem, this is the part that has proved to be so contagious in recent times.

I never thought it possible, but I've started to find such things rather fascinating myself, so much so that I've bought a book.

It's called Metro Maps of the World.

The work of writer and transport aficionado Mark Ovenden, it is a compendium of maps and diagrams from transit systems all over the planet.

Subways, Undergrounds, Metros and U-Bahns, 200 cities, the most obvious ones (London, New York, Paris, Tokyo), and those a little more unexpected (Jerusalem, Dnepropetrovsk, Calcutta, Birmingham).

Needless to say, it's proving rather popular here, The B enjoying it almost as much as I do.

His own collection, incidentally, continues to grow, although its contents are becoming ever more eclectic.

The latest addition, joining all the bus timetables and rail network maps, an Ikea store guide, acquired during an otherwise-unexciting shopping expedition just after Christmas.

It's strange the things that appeal sometimes . . . .