patnav

been doing a lot of walking. it is the easiest way to get to work. as far as the journey goes it is pretty much a straight line, well one that has some bends in it. oh bugger it! all you need to know is it is an easy to navigate walk.
so most mornings there i am doing something that is a cross between an amble and a stride, enjoying the sounds the pipe through the earphones (and let me tell you there are times when you want a 26 minute acid mothers temple wig out, but walking down a loooooong road is not one of them, what is needed is a rock solid beat that trips away like a jackhammer tearing up the road) just minding my own business.
one of the joys of the walk is you rarely see anyone, and depending on the time i set out i might not even see that many cars.
the corollary of this is that i am one of the few people around which means that i become the de facto local expert. so now as i stramble down the road i am getting cars stopping me and asking me how to get to x or y. not once has any of them asked to be pointed in the direction i am going so i can say “shift over and follow my directions”. then in hope they will show me some half baked map that they have been sent and while map making techniques have come on in leaps and bounds these scratching that the drivers hold in their hands look like something ptolemy may have drawn – all that is missing is “here be monsters” warnings.
as i say the route i walk is pretty easy and there is a reason for it being so: it is a long big road that runs through a large industrial park. curiously it never appears on any of their maps, even though it can probably be seen from space.
it confuses me, and loses them.
all i can offer is a desultory “i think you need to go back the way you came”.
you would have thought the fact i was walking was a big clue to my possible inability to direct them to where they wanted to go. any port in a storm, as they say.

still not the strangest question i have been asked all week, that prize goes to emma. though being a gentleman i am not going to tell what it was, but it did make me smile.