Car (or bike) Chat!

[Macca]

Lol... As I've said, I've asked for directions many times, and yes sometimes the folk you ask can't help, but often they can (at least in my experience). A big part of the problem now is that people are so insular, therefore rarely venture far from their own area, and so don't know where anywhere else is!

That, and the fact that becoming reliant on sat-navs, to get around, doesn't help them to learn either!

Marco.

don't get me wrong I think map reading should be taught in schools, important skill. But there was a time before maps were widely available, you had to have a guide or just remember directions. No street signs or anything either. That's only going back 200 years, less in some parts of the country.

So when maps became cheap and available they were just the sat navs of the day and people became dependant on them to find their way about in the same way.

[Marco]

You've already stated that Del does all that, so 'a million times' may be a bit of an exaggeration

No, I stated that Del helps me out, but she's not always the one who asks for directions. Depends where we are.

I still don't get what prompted you to say this though, unless it was intended as a joke:

Real blokes don't EVER ask for directions. My balls are shrinking just thinking about it.

If it was a joke, then fair enough. Otherwise, I'm sorry, I have little time for that butch 'male macho' nonsense. Quite often, IME, 'real women' like men to be human

And I don't give a flying fuck what some random bloke thinks of me I'll never see again in my life!

Marco.

[Macca]

It's partly a joke and partly true.

It's not what the person who you ask thinks of you (which is likely nothing as they'll forget the incident even happened within 5 minutes) it's what you think of yourself for having to ask in the first place. Yes there's an element of machismo involved. That's why it's funny.

[Marco]

don't get me wrong I think map reading should be taught in schools, important skill. But there was a time before maps were widely available, you had to have a guide or just remember directions. No street signs or anything either. That's only going back 200 years, less in some parts of the country.

So when maps became cheap and available they were just the sat navs of the day and people became dependant on them to find their way about in the same way.

Indeed, but it's gone too far the other way now, with tech all but having destroyed our basic skills and powers of judgment. As I said, how many folks now under 40 can perform basic mental arithmetic, without the use of a computer, or spell properly without recourse to Google, or the use of a spell-checker?

In terms of the former, try getting sales assistants in shops these days to work out in their heads what change to give you, if you present them with cash, without the till doing it for them!

And sat-nav, if blindly used as the only way of getting around, is simply another form of tech that makes your brain go soft!

Marco.

[Marco]

It's partly a joke and partly true.

It's not what the person who you ask thinks of you (which is likely nothing as they'll forget the incident even happened within 5 minutes) it's what you think of yourself for having to ask in the first place. Yes there's an element of machismo involved. That's why it's funny.

Well, that doesn't apply to me, as I'm fundamentally not wired that way. I don't sign up to the nonsensical notion either that 'real men' don't ever cry or show their emotions, but we've been here before!

Marco.

[Pigmy Pony]

No, I stated that Del helps me out, but she's not always the one who asks for directions. Depends where we are.

I still don't get what prompted you to say this though, unless it was intended as a joke:



If it was a joke, then fair enough. Otherwise, I'm sorry, I have little time for that butch 'male macho' nonsense. Quite often, IME, 'real women' like men to be human

And I don't give a flying fuck what some random bloke thinks of me I'll never see again in my life!

Marco.

IT WAS A JOKE Calm down dear, as Michael Winner was wont to say.

Though on the subject of butch 'male macho' nonsense, some may see disregarding soulless evs because they don't have a chipped 320 bhp into a roaring sports quad exhaust competing with an ear-bleedingly loud car stereo as such

Didn't expect that I'd have to explain myself in order to not offend any 'new man' sensibilities that may be out there

[Macca]

Well, that doesn't apply to me, as I'm fundamentally not wired that way. I don't sign up to the nonsensical notion either that 'real men' don't ever cry or show their emotions, but we've been here before!

Marco.

No that's not what I was saying at all. It's so hard to explain humour. Yes it is silly not to ask for directions if lost but in general men don't want to. Even though we know it's daft not to want to. The instinct is still not to do it.

[Macca]

IT WAS A JOKE Calm down dear, as Michael Winner was wont to say.

Though on the subject of butch 'male macho' nonsense, some may see disregarding soulless evs because they don't have a chipped 320 bhp into a roaring sports quad exhaust competing with an ear-bleedingly loud car stereo as such

Didn't expect that I'd have to explain myself in order to not offend any 'new man' sensibilities that may be out there

Michael Winner - now there's a man who would never have asked for directions. Although ironically he was a director himself.

[Pigmy Pony]

Ok, on to this one:

Ok, but how? Could you explain the process?

But before you answer, scroll back and ensure you're replicating the *exact* scenario I proposed. I simply don't see how a tiny screen, no matter how well programmed or detailed, can possibly replicate a view of the immediate road networks as clearly as an open paper road map, which is more than ten times its size?



Sometimes it just happens though, and you find yourself in one. You can't predict the unpredictable.



I didn't resist sat-navs at all, as I've always considered them as a usual tool, if like anything else, used within its limitations. I like to drive nice cars, and pretty much every one I've owned, for goodness knows how long, has had a sat-nav.

In terms of the rest, as I've already said mate, I don't embark on any long journey these days, where I'm unsure of where I'm going, without Del. We tend to travel together in those circumstances, and it's usually when going abroad. Out with of that, sure, if I don't know the area, I'll happily use the sat-nav

Marco.

Driving down the motorway, and before we hit traffic jam, sat nav tells us with its voice that there is a delay of ---minutes up ahead, and suggests an alternative route. We follow the route guidance voice, simple as that. Sometimes we are informed of these delays before we've even got off the drive So you can either risk it, follow its recommended alternative route, or sack it off and go out later. How good is that?
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[Pigmy Pony]

It's partly a joke and partly true.

It's not what the person who you ask thinks of you (which is likely nothing as they'll forget the incident even happened within 5 minutes) it's what you think of yourself for having to ask in the first place. Yes there's an element of machismo involved. That's why it's funny.

Dammit Martin, you always explain these things so much better than me