Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Being organised isn't always helpful
I always set off early for meetings. I do so because I usually have quite a way to travel and I can't cope too well with being late. I'm not one of these people who can just saunter in and blame the traffic or the weather. In truth, the main reason I set off early is to allow myself the extra time to find the place should I get lost. Being lost is just a normal part / hazard of life to me. I am always lost. I'm so pathetic that when I'm on foot people offer to walk with me. I've walked along the streets of many a city with many a stranger. It's not too bad in the car these days because I've sorted myself out with a sat nav. It is also okay in the countryside because I have an etrek GPS. I don't like to use anything like this in the street though and I certainly don't want to arrive at a meeting with the words "You have arrived" bellowing from my handbag.
I have a meeting scheduled for this morning but it was cancelled. Of course, I was already halfway down the motorway before I got the message. Everyone else was probably still in bed. I didn't mind the meeting being cancelled and decided to make the most of it by calling in a nearby Asda for some personal shopping. I parked the car and walked over to the store ( don't ask me why I didn't park close to the entrance - I just didn't ) with a smile on my face. The car park was empty and the smile was in full recognition of the fact that I would at least be able to find my car on the way out.
Thirty minutes, I was in that store. 30 minutes!! That's all it took for the car park to completely fill up. When I came out I hadn't got a clue where the car was. I eventually found it but I do feel so silly wandering round car parks with a lost and frustrated look on my face. It must happen to other people but I never see them myself. I have watched people come out of stores and they always go straight to their cars. How do they do this?
I made futher use of my unexpected extra time and called in on my mother. Gosh! she was hard work. I'm sure she's going senile. She couldn't find her phone and expected me to know where it was. :-)
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9 comments:
I have a fairly good sense of direction while driving or walking, but I very often can't remember where I've parked. I would say that 25% of the time I have to set off my remote car alarm to find my car.
Now, that's pretty embarassing.
I watched a TV programme a few years ago and it showed how some people seem to have an inbuilt sense of direction and others don't. It causes me a lot of problems but I make up for it by setting off very early and walking fast. I have thought very hard about whether the fast walk is actually something to do with the problem but if I slow down and try to take in my surroundings the problem seems much worse. ( Bombarded with too much detail within the surroundings perhaps? ). People keep sending me maps but they are of no use to me. I can understand the map but they are inaccurate and never seem to relate very well to what is actually on the ground. I am better with the written or spoken turn first left, second right and then at the traffic lights etc. Most maps seem to be little more than an artist's impression. Having said that I think the tube map is fantastic and works perfectly well. It is odd really because I prefer a lot of other stuff in a visual form ie diagrams etc but not maps. Images, icons, concept or mind maps - Yes. Road maps - No. I don't mind the map on the sat nav because it follows me rather than me having to follow it and it always pinpoints my position with a little arrow. I know my right from my left but North, South, East and West could be anywhere. I never know which way up the map should be. Even if I know where I am on a map I couldn't know for sure which way I am facing.
Kat - I call it dysgeographia. I can read a map & give instructions from it, but I can't relate it to what I see. I can't give people directions to places I know perfectly well, unless I actually stand & face the correct way & imagine myself walking it. (I usually give up in embarassment at the first turn, & suggest that the person asks again when they get to there). I can't draw 2D plans of 3D scenes/paintings/buildings...
I'm sure it is something very like dyslexia or dyscalculia, & made worse by my peculiar eyesight. I find it a real handicap, & you have my sympathy!
Hope you found your mum's phone for her :-)
gw - I like "togbad"!!
LOL at your Mom :)
If it helps any, my mother has zero sense of direction. So you are definitely not the only person who struggles to find their car ;)
poor baby u. i have never worn a watch, so i'm early for everything as well. but i have a pretty good sense of direction.
vw: auwksz (awkwards?)
When we visit places we've never been to before and are staying in a hotel, Morty tries to make me lead the way back if we've been sightseeing so I can 'learn' where we are.
Never works. I am useless.
I can always find my car because it is eighteen years old and sort of stands out in a crowd. I noticed moss beginning to grow on the bodywork last week.
Things sure do look different when you park in an almost empty parking lot and then come out to find it packed.
I`m good at reading maps when traveling, but never liked the directions you can get off the net. Much easier doing your own from the map.
I once bought a Daughter one of those buzzers to find her car keys, but then she forgot where she put the buzzer , so that didn`t help. Last week she came over to borrow her second set of car keys that she gave me to hold. She still hasn`t foung the other set. She thinks one of the kids in her day care might have taken them home with them.
I once had a neighbor who extended his antenna and tied a red flag to it so he could find it in a parking lot. It did stick up high over his car, so he should have seen it way over all the cars with it up in the air like that.
GW - And it probably won't be the last time I post about it. I tell yer - I'm always getting hopelessly lost. Yesterday I had to be somewhere at 12.00 for a short meeting and then again in the same place at 7 pm. I decided that the best thing to do was take some work with me and stay in their lounge until the evening. :-)
Paula - I've seen people use their alarm to locate their car but you have to be somewhere within the vicinity to do it. :-)
Bluebuff - I've found the term Dysmapia.
Dysmapia (a new term coined by Alice Davis):
Difficulty with reading maps or finding places. It appears to be related to the confusion some dyslexics have with compass directions, spatial orientation, and directional words such as "left," "right," "up" and "down."
I think I know "left","right", "up and "down". :-)
Echomouse - Luckily my son is just the opposite. He has got a great sense of direction and loves maps of all kinds.
Boo - I couldn't live without a watch these days but I haven't always bothered with them.
Morning - Sounds like a fabulous car and if it is still running it must be a good 'un. Unfortunately mine is a silver car and most cars on the car park seem to be that colour.
Dot - I much prefer the directions to the map. It is good that the web sites provide both. They obviously know that there are two types of people. I've considered the flag idea myself. :-)
a box of live scorpions livens up a dull meeting
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