Getting Directions

Boy, I miss how the Brits give fantastically accurate directions. They are always precise and correct. "At the first roundabout, take the third exit signposted to Henley. Follow the dual carriageway for a mile and after you go over a little rise, you'll see the entry for the Fox & Grapes pub on your left. Just after this entry is a small gravel drive on the left." The amazing thing is that they will do this from memory.

Here, never ask directions from a stranger. I repeat, NEVER ask directions from a stranger. More than half the time they have no idea what you're talking about or where you want to go. Nevermind that they probably don't understand your American English accent. But it is considered rude to say "I don't know". So, they make something up. They'll give a vague gesture in a direction and mutter something like "Yes, that way, madam."

Yesterday, I was going to a shop I hadn't visited before. I asked the store clerk how to get there. She was giving me very good directions and I knew the area the store was in. She got to a point where she said, "When you get to the stoplight at Lulu's call me and I'll give you the rest of the directions." I know there is a lot of construction in that area, so I imagined that she'd want to be on the phone to help me look for a possibly difficult to find driveway or parking entrance. So, as I was nearing the Lulu's hypermarket, I called. She proceeded to tell me, "Turn right at the stop light. Go until you see the next stop light and turn right. Go past the first right and at the second turning take a right. You'll come to the first round about. Go straight. At the second roundabout, turn left. Our shop is on the right side."

Now, what about these directions could not be given to me when I was sitting in my office with a piece of paper to write them down? Now that she's rattling them off and I'm driving through heavy traffic I'm trying desparately to stuff them into my memory in the right order so that I don't get lost in the maze of this neighborhood. There was nothing tricky - no hidden driveway - no manouvering around construction detours. Just plain ol' directions. I have no idea why she felt she couldn't give these to me when I called the first time.

I made it! A victory for me and my desperately unreliable 40+ year old memory.