Asking for directions

[peterbirks]

It's a standard joke that men will never ask for directions, preferring instead to carry on driving (or walking) blindly, in the vague hope that they will see something that they recognize.

What is rarely pointed out (well, never) is that not asking for directions is actually a rational act.

Let's turn this around. Have you ever been asked for directions? I have. A lot. It's one of the hazards of living in London, where 25% of the population were born abroad, more than 50% of the population were not born in London, and about 40% of the passers-by in the centre are tourists, who don't even live here.

And being asked for directions is not easy, even for someone who knows London inside out. Why is it difficult? Well, suppose you are travelling from point A to point M. At some random point in this journey (let's call it point F), a person comes up and asks you how to get to point X. So, mentally, you have to shift from your own journey (A to M) to another journey (F to X). Immediately, you have to ask yourself "where is X in relation to where I am now?" Because, since you are in the middle of your own journey, it isn't likely to be one of your regular starting points. You would know how to get from A to X, and how to get from M to X. But, well, F to X needs a bit of thought. Ask yourself. Could you give accurate and helpful directions to a person who stopped you in the middle of the street? It ain't easy.

And this is but part of the uphill struggle. We are assuming here that the person whom you stop to ask for directions (a) knows the area, and (b) has the ability to construct a sentence that you can understand.

In my experience of asking directions, this is about as likely as getting a lottery prize (i.e., 1 in 57). In the meantime, you have wasted a good few minutes listening to (possibly inaccurate) gibberish.

Now, what about the alternative? If you carry on driving/walking, you have a one in four chance of going in pretty much the right direction and a damned good chance of coming across somewhere that you know within a reasonable period of time.

So, the next time someone mocks you, a man, for never asking for directions (or says to you from the passenger seat "let's stop and ask that man") point out these simple facts. You know it makes sense.

++++

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Oh, and Empire have come up with a "free" cash bonus. "Just play 2000 raked hands in seven days, and we'll give you $50!"

Wow. Well, like, don't call us.

Comments

[andy-ward-uk.livejournal.com]

I get asked for directions on a weekly basis. I must have a sign on my head "ask me for directions even though I don't know". Invariably I only have the vaguest idea where it is, plus the askers are stuck in the one way system with only one way to go anyway.

Andy.

Generalising? Surely not?

[geoffchall.livejournal.com]

I think you're seeing things on a London-centric basis. Or rather a big-city place. One of the joys of living in a city the size of London is that there can be large areas of the place that you have not the slightest idea about, through which you pass rather than having any dirty hands-on knowledge of such corridors.

Although I never lived in London per se, I was a surrogate South Londoner because that was the area I lived in, crossing the Thames to work and not really venturing more than a mile or so North of the River. And of course North Londoners feel the same way about anything South of the Thames. Nicki seems to be destined to be a North Londoner, so I may come to know it second-hand.

Outside of huge cities, taking advice makes infintely more sense as you will (a) probably be talking to a local and (b) we actually know the town/city where we live - most of the time.

Re: Generalising? Surely not?

[peterbirks.livejournal.com]

Really?

Okay. Imagine yourself walking somewhere in Nottingham (I dunno, from the Bell in the town square to ye Olde Trip or somewhere else on the canal).

Then, at a random point on the walk, a car driver pulls up (in a one-way street, of course) and asks you for directions to an out-of-centre hotel to the north-east of the city. Or someone else asks how to drive to the university (the request is usually non-specific).

Now, equally assume that you are not you, but you are a typical person to be found walking in the centre of Nottingham on a Saturday morning.


I think that Andy's point (after all, he lives not in the bustling centropolis, but up in Harrington land) is a more accurate reflection.

PJ

You've got that sign too?

[(Anonymous)]

Andy, I'm glad somebody else has that sign on their head. It works fine in Wokingham, Bracknell or even Reading. Not so good when I'm out of my area.
The question is - can we have the sign surgically removed?

JG

Re: Generalising? Surely not?

[geoffchall.livejournal.com]

Hotel, northeast part of town? Well you'll want the Mansfield Road mate, which is a bit tricky because from the Bell to the Trip means you can't just go up Maid Marian Way. So you'd have to go down to the Broadmarsh and then back in along Upper Parliament Street. Then you take the signs for Mansfield (surprise).

It's not that hard.

And although my sense of direction is pretty good, I'm not untypical of an adult in a Nottingham street. We probably have more than the average levels of tourism here because of the Robin Hood thing but at a guess, well over 95% of the people you see in the street are coherent English-speaking residents of the area. Would London reach 50%?

Re: You've got that sign too?

[andy-ward-uk.livejournal.com]

Now I think about it this has happened a lot less since I had my hair cut very short :-)

Andy.

Re: Generalising? Surely not?

[(Anonymous)]

I've always been pretty lucky with getting directions; it's all in the selection process. I only ever recall giving directions once, with real conviction, and that was because someone wanted directions to my road!

chaos

[theirishthug.livejournal.com]

u have a very falid point, however the reason i suck at giving directions is something dif intirely. i suck with names and am a visual person. if i actually knew where the person needs to go, we'll assume this is my hometown where i have lived the most yrs of my life, i would then need to tell ppl to get there. unless u can get there using only major roads, i wouldn't be able to name them.

since my brain works much more of of recall than actualy hard data memory, i can see exactly where they need to go and what the next place would be. but i've noticed ppl don't like direction that go along the lines of: drive straight until the fire house and then turn at the big tree.


ps - i've come to the conclusion that empire doesn't like money. their entire player base was built of ppl that went there for the perks. now that their tables r dry the decide to hand out 5 of the worst perks possible.