cafetiere for the painfully aware

[devi]

There's gonna be a hangin' today.

Sarah of the Fringe is going to be here shortly to drive me and a bunch of paintings down to the Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building, one of the exhibition venues. I should probably not have stayed up late last night randomly drinking vodka and sending emails and then standing out on the balcony listening to the city in the still night. I feel a bit woolly now, but it was very nice. On the phone Sarah pointed out that the directions I was giving to my house all used pubs as landmarks. It's a fair cop.

But something I've been wondering about for a long time: why do most people seem to give directions of the "third left, then fourth right, then two more lefts, then take a right and five more lefts and you're there" variety rather than using street names, pub names or whatever? The latter method is clearly superior! In the first method all the instructions are dependent on your having got all the previous ones right, and if you make one mistake you're lost. Whereas in the second method, if you come to a confusing junction you can at least tell that you've definitely got the route right up to that point because, well, there's the Original Swan. Which is much less confusing than trying to work out if something counts as one of the twenty-seven "lefts" or not.

And do other people find it easy to hold a long sequence of turnings in their heads and be sure they've remembered it accurately? I know I don't. Those same people often say "But I don't remember street names" when I ask for any landmarks on the route. But street names are much more memorable! I am confused.

Comments

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

Apparently there's a distinct gender bias to whether you think in point-to-point/coordinates terms (ie unique landmarks) or directional/vectors (ie numbered lefts/rights). I don't know how true that is, but certainly Different People Visualise Differently.

Whether it's because I'm aware of this bit of useless knowledge, or because I merrily confuse any gender test by being both emotive & spacially aware and therefore breaking their stereotypes, I tend to give directions that list both, eg "Take the first left after the roundabout, ie just by the Angersteirre Hotel"

Mind you, my directions also include stuff like "The buses always take this corner too fast, be careful crossing", so I think I just have an overpopulated mindmap...

But yes, mapping by pubs for the win :)

[mzdt.livejournal.com]

gender divisions are rarely useful and lead to frustrating generalisations, having said that, this has been interesting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/menreadmaps/

I have to write down anything that gets too complicated, but yes, I like to be trusted with names & places, as that way I can find it myself, or heaven forfend, stop & ask directions...

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

gender divisions are rarely useful and lead to frustrating generalisations

As wimble once pointed out, women are very fond of making gender-based generalizations.

[mzdt.livejournal.com]

actually some of the worst generalisations I've seen recently have been made by ardent feminists who are the first to pounce normally.

Not that ALL femists do this, of course. ;-)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I also specify directions via multiple means, although I think in my case it's anxiety over potentially losing people that makes me throw in as many hooks as I can.

Pubs make great landmarks because they're (generally) designed to be easy to spot from the road, and generally there isn't another one of a similar name anywhere nearby. A lot easier than street names, which are often missing / concealed / only visible after you've driven past.