I have often commented on this blog about my sensational lack of any sense of direction. How I have managed to travel for so long and come so far is a riddle on par with that of the Sphinx.
And it's not that I don't have instincts either, I do. It's just that I decide at the last minute to completely ignore them. My mind will be telling me to turn right, but my feet will go left. And my brain won't protest. That lingering self-doubt is always there. Or perhaps it's an ingrained sense of adventure, some unspoken pact between my body parts that figures "she'll be right, mate". And I always have been, so far.
But I have to laugh at myself when I call Lexie's cell and ask her to give me directions to a workshop I signed up for, only to find out that I was standing on the wrong side of the public square. Sure enough, a short walk along a path through the trees, and voila - there was the venue I'd been searching for. If I'd just taken that right turn, I would have found it first time.
Naturally there are times when I have no instinct whatsoever and I am simply lost. Emerging from the Red Line subway the other day was a classic example. I knew I was on the corner of Jackson & State, but I honestly didn't know whether I was meant to turn right or left. So of course I went the wrong way. For about 4 blocks. And when I realised my error and turned back around to re-orient myself, I did that I'm-not-lost-I-meant-for-this-to-happen purposeful walk, just in case 'someone' was paying attention. Pathetic, I know.
But hey, at least I make myself laugh, even if others shake their heads in disbelief. And you can laugh all you want, just don't follow me - for your own sake.
3 comments:
You were always on top of the Metro system and I admired that - I never quite got the rationale behind it personally. And then you navigated our way aboot Scotland quite well ... for the most part we did OK except that Abbey at Kilmarnock and then of course there was the Venitian Burano ordeal but that's a blog on its own!
Gaarbi, Don't be too hard on yourself. I know that we walked more of Italy than we planned - but at least we saw more too. You were very good though with the GPS. Maybe it was because you could look at the pictures and a voice was telling you where to go!
Hehe Reg I can't believe we sat on that bloody ferry for an hour, and completely bypassed Burano. At least we got to see Lido twice.
And Nae Nae, I will never forget how we all hung off every single word of that GPS system, and never once turned the Fiat's radio or CD player on, lest we miss something that Mr GPS had to say - mercy.
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