Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

sss555s

vivatifosi wrote: »

Seriously, how can you do it that quickly. Please tell me that wasn't your first go:o:eek::(

No it wasn't my first go as i took my time then.

I think it was when someone mentioned a time this morning i thought I'd have a go to see how quick i could do.

I thought the quickest way would be to do the country's in order.

michaels

Do you totally rely on them though? Or do you take a peak at a map before you travel and know that you are heading for example '45 miles NE of the airport'.

Reason I ask is that when we travel I suspect my DW has very little idea of the geography and just notices we are 90 minutes in the car but would have no idea of what the country looked like, how the towns and cities were laid out or which direction we had travelled from the airport and it worries her not one iota whereas I become disticntly unrelaxed if I don't have this mental map of where I am.

sss555s wrote: »

I totally rely on sat-navs when out of area.

The thing i always find myself conscious of is the North, South, East and West.

sss555s

vivatifosi wrote: »

Just finished the US states one with no errors. Not as quick as you lot though. When I was little I had one of those wooden jigsaws with all of the US states cut to shape. You could say therefore I've been practicing for that "test" since I was about 5 years old.

Well done :T

I was useless at the USA states when i tried it yesterday.

michaels

Everyone is making me feel ignorant tonight, I got a few wrong - the NE and some of those ones in the middle...

vivatifosi wrote: »

Just finished the US states one with no errors. Not as quick as you lot though. When I was little I had one of those wooden jigsaws with all of the US states cut to shape. You could say therefore I've been practicing for that "test" since I was about 5 years old.

sss555s

michaels wrote: »

Do you totally rely on them though? Or do you take a peak at a map before you travel and know that you are heading for example '45 miles NE of the airport'.

Reason I ask is that when we travel I suspect my DW has very little idea of the geography and just notices we are 90 minutes in the car but would have no idea of what the country looked like, how the towns and cities were laid out or which direction we had travelled from the airport and it worries her not one iota whereas I become disticntly unrelaxed if I don't have this mental map of where I am.

Totally when i don't know where i am

The thing i don't like is when they take you a short cut through some housing estate or country lane.

vivatifosi

michaels wrote: »

Everyone is making me feel ignorant tonight, I got a few wrong - the NE and some of those ones in the middle...

When I first tried it I made 4 mistakes and took a lot longer. The worrying thing is that three of those mistakes consisted of trying to put North Carolina where North Dakota should be. I'd read "North" and not bothered with the rest:o. I could have stopped after the first time of clearly getting it wrong, but no, I then tried to do the same another two times.

sss555s

I'm not so good on Astronomy. All i know is we're the 3rd rock from the Sun

zagubov

Struggled with the American States- even Mrs Z did and she used to live in the US. Bill Bryson says Idaho was the 8th state they'd tried to name Idaho (I guess it was one of those ideas whose time had come!). I didn't think Kentucky was so far north etc.

Re: satnavs, thanks to Big Chief I-Spy's I-Spy the City, I know that satellite dishes point at the equator and so point generally south or south-east. Gets you out of the odd jam in London where some main roads don't have street signs. (wartime anti-spy tactic converted into cost-cutting "necessity" in a trillion-dollar economy).
Actually used that one a lot- hate being disorientated!:D

vivatifosi

Right that's it, I've got work tomorrow so I'm going to have to stop playing on the computer and go to bed.

I did enjoy Third Rock From the Sun, but I think the guy in it was much better as the other serial killer in Dexter (please don't tell me what happened to him, I'm about a season and a half behind).

LydiaJ

I don't mind not knowing where I am if someone else is driving (or leading the way if walking), or even if I'm driving but have a passenger who's on their home turf and directing me live. But I hate following directions. I never feel confident that they will make sense to me, or that I will manage not to miss whatever it is I'm supposed to be looking for. I'm confident reading a map if I've got my hands and eyes free for it, but of course map-reading and driving aren't exactly compatible. I haven't got a satnav, but my phone has an interactive map thing that shows me a patch of map, a coloured line to show me where my planned route goes, and a blue flashing arrow that's my position. That's perfect for me. It usually works fine, and on the odd occasion when I end up going the wrong way (eg if I don't get in the right lane and can't get to where I ought to be) it's easy enough to find a way back to the blue line.