We will not discuss the number of times that when returning from my brother’s house I get off the Thru-way at various weird exits (taking me far east or west) and must then figure out how to get the last 30 miles home. I’ve never had a problem when driving to his house, just on the return trip.
When I first started college I had to go in early to register (not for classes, just admin stuff). Well, I got to the campus and checked the map they’d sent me to get to the admin offices, but after about an hour of walking here there and everywhere-all OVER that damn campus, and not finding the offices, I found a payphone on campus and called the admin office to get directions (obviously, I’m not male). I tell the nice lady whereabouts I am and she says “OK, honey, turn around”. I do so and see her waving and smiling at me from the window of an office I must have passed 20 times. I almost went home without registering, but I’m so used to my lack of a sense of direction I calmly accept all scornful comments. Sigh I really hate being lost and it happens to me all the time!
I was in Brussels once, and went out to get a bite to eat. Fifteen minute walk down a main street, 30 minutes at a restaurant, then I start out towards home. There was one turn in my path home, and in order to save time I decided to cut through a side street. Three hours later, I wander into a train station, travel 4 stops back to the one that’s near my apartment, and finish my odyssey, having proven that I will not let Belgium coerce me into asking for directions.
Another time, in my home city (of roughly 30K people), I went to fill out an application at a job placement firm. I knew their address, but I wasn’t completely sure where the street was. So, I left a little early, just to be safe. I drove down Main Street, and hung a left at the appropriate block. For half an hour I kept driving, thinking, “What if it’s the next block?” Finally, having run out of city, I turned around and headed back to look in the other direction. It was the very first street on the opposite side of Main! The lady who took my application gave me a look for being 45 minutes late, but I didn’t tell her what had happened. Which is better, to be considered untrustworthy or incompetent?
Hiebram
This would be perfect if you would have gone in the house yelling at your husband about what a POS the van is and it is all somehow his fault.
I am the only long awaited most perfect girl in my family.
I have had to deal with my mother rattling off not only my brothers names, but my cousins, her cousins and her sister’s name before she finally looks at me going,
“What.it.your.name?”
(And it happened at a teacher’s conference Junior year…so 22ish years ago?. w00t!)
I also have no sense of direction. Navigation is entirely reliant on maps or memory. (And I hate my mom’s way of giving directions: “The third light on the right…” lady, when I’m driving a two-ton vehicle, I have to dedicate all my brain cells to keeping said vehicle on the road, not to counting lights.)
I still don’t know how the heck I got lost the last time I came home from Orlando–I missed the connection to the Turnpike and ended up in like the middle of nowhere.
I also don’t know how the heck I finally found a road I was familiar with. (I guess it helped that I had been heading sort of south-west and eventually drove back into civilization.)
Oh, jeez, my “lost” thread made Threadspotting. So now *everyone * knows I’m a spaz who can’t get home. :smack: Of all the threads of mine that could have made it…
I’m thinking about attaching a compass to my bike. It probably still won’t help, but at least I’ll know what direction I’m going.
Mr. m and I get lost all the time. We learned a lot about Madison after we moved here just by wandering around trying to figure out how to get home.
And I’ve found that yoga makes me stupid. After yoga classes, I’ve been unable to start the car (the wheel was locked–I had to call home and ask how to fix it), gotten lost (it’s a route I travel regularly), forgotten how to use the toaster (wasn’t plugged in), and wondered why the clothes dryer wasn’t working (the door was open). Fortunately, my brain usually doesn’t take more than an hour to kick in again after class.
Nah, the only thing a compass will do is let you know where the compass is. You’ll still be lost, but you’ll know which direction you’re lost in.
Unlike dotchan’s preference above, I want landmarks or at least a count of the traffic lights when somebody gives me directions. “Turn right at Smith Street” doesn’t help when I’m busy trying not to run into anything! “Turn right at Smith Street, that’s the third light” is much more useful. (Last week I was trying to pick up my wife at work, and missed a turn because I had no advance warning. Like Aesiron’s neighbourhood, this area was not on a grid so I took a while to get straightened out.) I also want to see the map before I start.
I’ve always figured that when you’re driving you want all your attention on not getting in an accident, so directions should be as mindless as possible.
My maternal grandmother, now deceased, used to start with her younger sisters and then work her way down through the generations until she got to granddaughters and great-granddaughters.
Best part was, she’d stamp her foot and demand, “Raise your HAND when I get to you!” as she went through the litany.
I read this thread, then ran out to get somethings done, then didn’t make it back til now. I looked in IMHO, The Pit, GQ…everywhere…I searched and searched til I found it, but until I did, I was in a serious panicky snit…
PHEW!!!
Yeah I’m a sarcastic dumbass.(Dumas??)…next time you get lost, call, we’ll get you home.