computers aren't always the answer
Sep. 9th, 2007 06:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lauradi7dwI'm a big fan of the internet, but sometimes it just isn't the solution.
Florence and a friend are driving back from Montreal. There was a wreck on the highway (10) and they got lost while trying to follow the detour. After an hour or two she called me, asking me to go to the computer and get more directions. They were in a gas station parking lot, the second one they'd tried. The only English speaker they'd found was a kid, who could tell them where they were but couldn't suggest directions. I was a bit gobsmacked to discover that after all the advance planning they did for this trip, it never occurred to them to take an actual map (as opposed to a computer printout) or an atlas. She was quite offended when I was upset about their lack of forethought - they have exact directions on their chosen route, but no provision for dealing with changes. "Where would we get a map of Quebec?" she asked. Well, for one thing, she could have taken the atlas that I used to direct them (I didn't need to turn on the computer), and for another, they were PARKED IN A GAS STATION. Has the world changed so much that people of a certain age don't think to use maps any more?
Other mom response - I can visualize exactly where they are (or were, or both) and I had the brief silly flash of driving there and standing by the road, pointing them towards the exit for 55 Sud (to 91 in VT). Goofy in a number of ways, not least that she has my car...
My mind does go along tangents. As I was directing her east on 10, I remarked that she could start singing about "I wish I was in Sherbrooke now." She thought it was funny but dismissed the possibility (and they don't want to go that far east, anyway). Now, of course, I have "Barrett's Privateers" stuck in my head.
Florence and a friend are driving back from Montreal. There was a wreck on the highway (10) and they got lost while trying to follow the detour. After an hour or two she called me, asking me to go to the computer and get more directions. They were in a gas station parking lot, the second one they'd tried. The only English speaker they'd found was a kid, who could tell them where they were but couldn't suggest directions. I was a bit gobsmacked to discover that after all the advance planning they did for this trip, it never occurred to them to take an actual map (as opposed to a computer printout) or an atlas. She was quite offended when I was upset about their lack of forethought - they have exact directions on their chosen route, but no provision for dealing with changes. "Where would we get a map of Quebec?" she asked. Well, for one thing, she could have taken the atlas that I used to direct them (I didn't need to turn on the computer), and for another, they were PARKED IN A GAS STATION. Has the world changed so much that people of a certain age don't think to use maps any more?
Other mom response - I can visualize exactly where they are (or were, or both) and I had the brief silly flash of driving there and standing by the road, pointing them towards the exit for 55 Sud (to 91 in VT). Goofy in a number of ways, not least that she has my car...
My mind does go along tangents. As I was directing her east on 10, I remarked that she could start singing about "I wish I was in Sherbrooke now." She thought it was funny but dismissed the possibility (and they don't want to go that far east, anyway). Now, of course, I have "Barrett's Privateers" stuck in my head.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-09 11:21 pm (UTC)Oh blast, the second I read that line I could hear the song winding its way through my head.