Directions from pedestrians

Andy Gee said:

I'm constantly amazed by the directions I get from pedestrians when I'm on
a bike. My "lost" period started out well -- a gentleman gave me very
colorful but accurate turn-by-turns (for _one_ street - it needed it) with
advice on what the idiot drivers would do, and where, and how to react.

One of the pleasant surprises during our first bike tour of Britain
(many years ago) was the interest the Brits took in our adventure, and
the care they took with directions. It seemed common for them to give
us detailed directions, then summarize with a brief repetition: "So,
again, that's left at the first light, two blocks on, right at the
chemist and look for it on your left." One middle aged woman even
walked a block out of her way to be able to point out the tricky
beginning part.

I like the summary review a lot, and I try to remember to do that for
others.

- Frank Krygowski

If you're lost, first choice by far: stop a cop. They are consistently
well informed.

"Andy Gee" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm constantly amazed by the directions I get from pedestrians when I'm on
a bike. My "lost" period started out well -- a gentleman gave me very
colorful but accurate turn-by-turns (for _one_ street - it needed it) with
advice on what the idiot drivers would do, and where, and how to react.
But then I started heading home. I had been exploring the wilds of New
Jersey and my plan was to catch the PATH train home. Yahoo, of course,
had
screwed something up and had the PATH station in Hoboken right on top of
something called the Bergen light rail. Incidentally, I'm pleased that
this light rail station, 9th & Congress, has become an essential part of a
gravity loop. It's a vertical rise of about 200 feet, with a large
elevator taking non-train passengers, including cyclists, up and down. So
anyway, that's where I was directed when I asked where the PATH stop was.
So when I got there, I asked someone at the actual light rail station how
to get to the PATH, and he said to take the light rail two stops. Then I
said, but where is it? And he said, oh, it's all the way on the other
side
of Hoboken. He clearly didn't think the distance was bikable, and I
didn't
tell him how far I'd already come. The temperature had dropped about 20
degrees (I found out later) rapidly and I wasn't thinking clearly, and I
was almost going to buy a ticket and wait on the freezing platform when I
realized that Hoboken is only _one_ square mile. No two points in the
city
could be more than 1.4 miles apart. I'm now going to write 1,000 times
"have a good map at all times."

--ag

Ron Wallenfang said:

If you're lost, first choice by far: stop a cop. They are consistently
well informed.

Taxi drivers too.

--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the f to ph to reply:.

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 23:10:27 -0500 in rec.bicycles.misc, Paul

Hobson said:

Ron Wallenfang said:

If you're lost, first choice by far: stop a cop. They are consistently
well informed.

Taxi drivers too.

and postal persons, also. in rural france, they sometimes were
on bikes!

My rule of thumb: the more peds you ask, the closer they'll get to
accuracy.

Ask "where's the bus station?" and someone will get you started. Ask
the next available person and you'll get either verification or fact.
And so forth.

Oh yes, copious thanks, even

HAND

--Karen D.

<[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

One of the pleasant surprises during our first bike tour of Britain
(many years ago) was the interest the Brits took in our adventure, and
the care they took with directions. It seemed common for them to give
us detailed directions, then summarize with a brief repetition: "So,
again, that's left at the first light, two blocks on, right at the
chemist and look for it on your left." One middle aged woman even
walked a block out of her way to be able to point out the tricky
beginning part.

I like the summary review a lot, and I try to remember to do that for
others.

- Frank Krygowski

On my visits to the UK people have always been extremely gracious about
giving directions to lost tourists, to the point of walking up to me and
offering when I looked even more lost than usual. It's a very pleasant
custom.
--
mark

Not necessarily the case in NYC -- matter of fact, I can't remember the
last time a cop gave me directions in the City. They're often on loan
from other precincts, etc. Very odd, but there you have it.

And no, postmen and women are hardly better.

I've come to rely on myself and my maps -- my luck, in other words! --
so I probably didn't give "statistics" a chance for an NYPD cop to give
me directions, but, oh well, I'm glad they were honest in not knowing
instead of attempting to help and send me off wrong.

Ron Wallenfang said:

If you're lost, first choice by far: stop a cop. They are consistently
well informed.

Dennis P. Harris said:

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 23:10:27 -0500 in rec.bicycles.misc, Paul

Hobson said:

Ron Wallenfang said:

If you're lost, first choice by far: stop a cop. They are consistently
well informed.

Taxi drivers too.

and postal persons, also. in rural france, they sometimes were
on bikes!

Not in NYC! Taxi drivers almost never speak English (oh, you know what
I mean) and letter-carriers are 50/50.

Speaking as a Brit...

<[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

One of the pleasant surprises during our first bike tour of Britain
(many years ago) was the interest the Brits took in our adventure, and
the care they took with directions. It seemed common for them to give
us detailed directions, then summarize with a brief repetition: "So,
again, that's left at the first light, two blocks on,

nah, we don't talk about "blocks", unless the folks you spoke to had been
watching too much US TV, coz our towns are generally not laid out in a grid

Quoted message said:

right at the chemist and look for it on your left."

Traditionally we navigate by pubs. Right at the King's Arms, Left at the
Old Bull etc.

NYC XYZ said:

Not necessarily the case in NYC -- matter of fact, I can't remember the
last time a cop gave me directions in the City. They're often on loan
from other precincts, etc. Very odd, but there you have it.

And no, postmen and women are hardly better.

I've come to rely on myself and my maps -- my luck, in other words! --
so I probably didn't give "statistics" a chance for an NYPD cop to give
me directions, but, oh well, I'm glad they were honest in not knowing
instead of attempting to help and send me off wrong.

I've found if you stumble on a fire station, they know the area very
well, and will check their (far more up to date than mapquest) map
anyway. If they're not busy on a call (good reason to not even
approach the station), they are glad for the change of pace. They also
usually know about road closings and partial closings, construction
that may cause temporary road obstructions, alternate routes, etc.

I can remember in the '70s listening to a scanner conversation where
the police dispatcher called a police squad, who didn't know where the
address was, and the dispatcher didn't either, and so the dispatcher
called the fire station to get directions.

It taught me where the real directions are, and taught me to always
give a cross street and nearby landmark if the need to call 911 arose.

Austin

AustinMN wrote:
:: NYC XYZ wrote:
::: Not necessarily the case in NYC -- matter of fact, I can't remember
::: the last time a cop gave me directions in the City. They're often
::: on loan from other precincts, etc. Very odd, but there you have it.
:::
::: And no, postmen and women are hardly better.
:::
::: I've come to rely on myself and my maps -- my luck, in other words!
::: -- so I probably didn't give "statistics" a chance for an NYPD cop
::: to give me directions, but, oh well, I'm glad they were honest in
::: not knowing instead of attempting to help and send me off wrong.
:::
::
:: I've found if you stumble on a fire station, they know the area very
:: well, and will check their (far more up to date than mapquest) map
:: anyway. If they're not busy on a call (good reason to not even
:: approach the station), they are glad for the change of pace. They
:: also usually know about road closings and partial closings,
:: construction that may cause temporary road obstructions, alternate
:: routes, etc.
::

firestations are also good places to pee and refill water bottles. One must
use common sense when going in one, though. Don't leave your bike in the
way of a truck or in a place that would impede firefighters. The guys in
firestations are always nice to me when I stop in.

:: I can remember in the '70s listening to a scanner conversation where
:: the police dispatcher called a police squad, who didn't know where
:: the address was, and the dispatcher didn't either, and so the
:: dispatcher called the fire station to get directions.
::
:: It taught me where the real directions are, and taught me to always
:: give a cross street and nearby landmark if the need to call 911
:: arose.
::
:: Austin

[email hidden] wrote in news:1137554990.190449.318420
@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

I like the summary review a lot, and I try to remember to do that for
others.

I don't remember the hysterically funny details of the joke, and the
accents don't come out right in print, but the punch line is "never mind
the thanks, repeat the instructions."

--ag

Was it Rodney Dangerfield who said, "You go down this road 'til you come to
the corner where the old schoolhouse USED to be"?

Leo Lichtman said:

Was it Rodney Dangerfield who said, "You go down this road 'til you come to
the corner where the old schoolhouse USED to be"?

I was in the drug store in a local small town a couple of years and the
clerk told some tourists to try the XYZ store down the block. Good
instructions except that the XYZ store had changed name three times.

Roger Zoul said:

firestations are also good places to pee and refill water bottles. One must
use common sense when going in one, though. Don't leave your bike in the
way of a truck or in a place that would impede firefighters. The guys in
firestations are always nice to me when I stop in.

Agreed!
Also police stations. Once when touring as a poor college student we
were bike camping and the night got very cold as we were camped in a
park in northern Wisconsin. The local cops knew we were there and came
by ~ midnight and offered us cots in the local lock-up. In the morning
they treated us to a great breakfast.

Quoted message said:

Leo Lichtman said:

Was it Rodney Dangerfield who said, "You go down this road 'til you come to
the corner where the old schoolhouse USED to be"?

I was in the drug store in a local small town a couple of years and the
clerk told some tourists to try the XYZ store down the block. Good
instructions except that the XYZ store had changed name three times.

Small towns tend to have unofficial names for things, often related to
people who once lived bearby. So Woodchuck Lake (official map name),
might be known as Kane Lake, because Ebenezer Kane built a house on the
shore, even though he has been gone, for 100 years, and nobody named
Kane has lived in town for 75 years, locals still call it Kane Lake.
Ask a local where Woodchuck Lake is, and they look at you funny, "ain't
no lake by that name around here, only lake around here is Kane Lake,
there might be a Woodchuck lake over by Hooterville".

W

Leo Lichtman said:

Was it Rodney Dangerfield who said, "You go down this road 'til you come to
the corner where the old schoolhouse USED to be"?

I remember trying to use a Lonely Planet book in Guangzhou China. The
name of the hotel has changed years earlier, as had the street it was
located on.

I think that they finally fixed it about 15 years after the name changes
back to the pre-cultural revolution names. Reminds of me reading "The
Handsomest Man in Cuba" and the authors constant complaints about Lonely
Planet's inaccuracies.

Renmin Daxia (people's mansion) to Ai Qun.

"The Wogster" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Leo Lichtman wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I was in the drug store in a local small town a couple of years and the
clerk told some tourists to try the XYZ store down the block. Good
instructions except that the XYZ store had changed name three times.

Quoted message said:

Small towns tend to have unofficial names for things,

Truth. The small town that can claim me as a born and bred native was like
that. Sure, streets and lakes and rivers had names. but growing up they were
pretty much unknown or ignored. by locals. 'Down thataway', 'the lake',
'over yonder' were the height of precision.