Yesterday we drove from Berkeley to Menlo park. Between us we had 3 gps, a Siri and a map. We made the trip in 40 minutes, got off the freeway and then the trouble began.
Before I tell you the whole story lets go back to a time when Aunt Rosie and Uncle Jack were going from their house to anywhere. Because Aunt Rosie was always giving Uncle jack conflicting directions, Uncle Jack made her sit in the back seat. They weren't riding in a taxi, so there was no partition between front and back. He could still hear everything she said. But she didn't want to annoy him so she sat in the back seat and sang all the mistakes she thought he made. It went something like this (you pick the tune). "Jack, you need to slow down or you'll miss the turn" or "Jack, we need to make a sharp left in 10 feet". For whatever reason, as long as she was in back, it didn't,t seem to bother him.
There are all those stories about how men won't ever ask for directions and women always want to know where they are going.and for both those reasons, someone smartly invented the gps. However, if there is more than one gps in the car you may find that they don,t agree on how to get you where you want to go.
Back to yesterday. When we had 3 gps devices a Siri and a map. And three adults who were each advocating for their own device. Imagine one driver who was trying listen to all the directions and figure out to whom he should listen. Suffice to say, we got to Palo Alto in 40 minutes, and then got so turned around, trying to figure out where we were, it took another 40 minutes to get to our destination -- which was no more than 6 miles away. Joe, who was driving simply couldn't hear a thing with everyone and 3 particularly demanding electrical devices shouting at once. We decided that we had just lived through an absolutely hillarious comedy routine.
What makes us think that the gps is any better than a good old fashioned map. We have friends who have a lovely bed and breakfast (actually breakfast sucked but dinner was amazing) in a small village halfway between Rome and Florence. If you read a map to get there it was highways and than 5 or 6 miles of good back roads. If you depended on a gps, which takes you the shortest route, you drove out of Rome and then you were directed to unpaved wooded cow paths. So instead of it taking two hours to reach San Casciano di Bagni, it took at least 6 hours. Our friends, who never liked people from Rome, would instruct those people to just follow their gps.
So, wouldn't it be nice if the Gps solved all the arguing that goes on in the car between couples who ordinarily have a peaceful loving relationship. Yes it would. But it doesn't. Because now when the directions are right within reach, you wind up arguing with this inanimate object that keeps telling you you are an idiot and if you don't turn around and listen you will most likely wind up in a place where no one will ever find you. We're just sayin'. Iris
Before I tell you the whole story lets go back to a time when Aunt Rosie and Uncle Jack were going from their house to anywhere. Because Aunt Rosie was always giving Uncle jack conflicting directions, Uncle Jack made her sit in the back seat. They weren't riding in a taxi, so there was no partition between front and back. He could still hear everything she said. But she didn't want to annoy him so she sat in the back seat and sang all the mistakes she thought he made. It went something like this (you pick the tune). "Jack, you need to slow down or you'll miss the turn" or "Jack, we need to make a sharp left in 10 feet". For whatever reason, as long as she was in back, it didn't,t seem to bother him.
There are all those stories about how men won't ever ask for directions and women always want to know where they are going.and for both those reasons, someone smartly invented the gps. However, if there is more than one gps in the car you may find that they don,t agree on how to get you where you want to go.
Back to yesterday. When we had 3 gps devices a Siri and a map. And three adults who were each advocating for their own device. Imagine one driver who was trying listen to all the directions and figure out to whom he should listen. Suffice to say, we got to Palo Alto in 40 minutes, and then got so turned around, trying to figure out where we were, it took another 40 minutes to get to our destination -- which was no more than 6 miles away. Joe, who was driving simply couldn't hear a thing with everyone and 3 particularly demanding electrical devices shouting at once. We decided that we had just lived through an absolutely hillarious comedy routine.
What makes us think that the gps is any better than a good old fashioned map. We have friends who have a lovely bed and breakfast (actually breakfast sucked but dinner was amazing) in a small village halfway between Rome and Florence. If you read a map to get there it was highways and than 5 or 6 miles of good back roads. If you depended on a gps, which takes you the shortest route, you drove out of Rome and then you were directed to unpaved wooded cow paths. So instead of it taking two hours to reach San Casciano di Bagni, it took at least 6 hours. Our friends, who never liked people from Rome, would instruct those people to just follow their gps.
So, wouldn't it be nice if the Gps solved all the arguing that goes on in the car between couples who ordinarily have a peaceful loving relationship. Yes it would. But it doesn't. Because now when the directions are right within reach, you wind up arguing with this inanimate object that keeps telling you you are an idiot and if you don't turn around and listen you will most likely wind up in a place where no one will ever find you. We're just sayin'. Iris
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