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The delights of sat-nav | Janice Scott's Blog

The delights of sat-nav

I had a phone call last night asking me to play in a golf match, as two people had dropped out. From this you will deduce that I’m not the best golfer in the world. It’ll take me another week or two to measure up to Tiger Woods. Still, I was pleased to accept, as the weather promised to be good and it was an away match at a course which was unfamiliar to me.

The problem was, I didn’t know the route. But we recently invested in a new sat-nav, so this was the ideal opportunity to try it out. Yes, I know. All of you have been using sat-navs for years and are thoroughly blase about them, but I’m not. This was a new experience for me.

I should explain. We have had two previous sat-navs, neither  of which were completely satisfactory. The earliest one – OK, it was probably a prototype – gave new instructions the moment you’d completed the last instruction, even though the next move might be anything up to eleven miles away. So  you’d hear, ‘Turn left’, with no indication whatsoever of when you were to turn left. We had some fun with that one, as you can imagine. The next sat-nav was a lot better, but only recognised about half the country’s postcodes, very few of which were in Norfolk. And if you had the temerity to change route half way, the sat-nav went into an unnecessary sulk,  refusing to function again.

Not good, and hence my trepidation when I set off today. However, clearly sat-navs have moved in the last few years, for this one was perfect. A lovely, calm lady gave me explicit instructions in plenty of time in a beautifully modulated voice, didn’t get rattled by the traffic (or my driving) and deposited me exactly at my destination just as required.

The match was great, and we won (even greater!) It was a friendly so we all had a good time.

Unfortunately, as I started the journey home  heaving the car over exaggerated speed bumps in the golf club access road, the sat-nav fell off the dashboard, utterly scrambling the display.  Needless to say, I didn’t know how to get the display back, but bless her! The dear lady within continued with her clear instructions just as though nothing had happened. The display never recovered, but she got me home with no trouble at all.

That’s it – I’m a convert. I shall never worry again about getting to my destination, but rely entirely on the sat-nav.

One Response to “ The delights of sat-nav”

  1. Jane Burton Says:

    Dear Janice,
    I had an interesting experience with my son’s satnav last summer abroad. I borrowed it as I was travelling alone as a safety precaution. On my homeward journey I was on a German Autobahn and needed to spend a penny so stopped at the next rest stop (or so I thought to my destination). A few miles it told me to take the next exit on the right. I ignored it only to be told…recalculating. It then did this 3 further times so on the 4th I decided to follow instructions and double checked with a mapand thought well this would not be my chosen route but it was feasible that this could be the way. After struggling through a minor traffic jam and about 40 minutes later I was told that I would be arriving at my destination. Strange I thought because I had worked out that I had a full day’s drive ahead of me. It had only taken me back to the same loo that I had visited earlier!!!!! That’s just one of two stories could relay.

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