Aliens on the Underground

[oursin]

Is it really terribly culture-bound of me? I would have thought that even if someone didn't read English, and thus could not understand 'No Entry', the fact that it was in red, and preceded by a red X, was pretty standard international signage convention for 'Not This Way'. Yet as I debouched from the exit gate at Euston this morning, I nearly bumped into two women (fairly young, Mediterranean-looking) trying to get the adjacent gate (all that block are exits, at least in the a.m.) to open with their oyster-cards, and getting v frustrated.

I will admit that the whole layout of Euston Tube Station appears to have been designed by someone deliberately intent on maximising human misery, confusion, and aggro.