Saturday, September 13, 2014

The Road trip! The 'lost' in space version.

OK, I have always prided myself in my ability to find my way on road trips, without the help of a map. That supreme confidence took a nasty turn for the 'I'm the same as everyone else,' yesterday when I performed the unimaginable (for me!) and actually took 'a turn,' in the wrong direction. bear in mind that the day was cloudy and the sky low; Chicken Little would have been in a right state! After leaving Matamata on the way home, going past the Hobbit like information centre and continuing along the road, we noticed that there were no lane-markings. Funny, I thought--maybe it will broaden out soon. But no----the road was quiet and we were soon in the middle of the Waikato. I could not see the sun and the hills were alive, with the sound of 'banjos!---pretty flash ones though, because the farms looked most prosperous. I had a sense that things were not quite right but continued on in the belief that we would hit a 'main' road soon. After about 30 minutes of this, we did indeed come upon a road with actual cars on. Some of the occupants looked like they too had entered some forbidden zone! Motoring on (I was however enjoying the narrow and windy roads--almost pretending to be I rally car driver---in a Hyundai Getz---yeah right!) we chanced upon yet a bigger road, this time one that had a sign. It was pointing to Hamilton, bit--OMG---we were travelling towards Taupo! How the hell did I manage to totally turn the direction of travel around a full 180 degrees? Stupidity in motion, I thought and expressed that thought to my sister, who had entertained the doubts re our travel for quite some time. Somehow I had become absolutely and irrevocably disorientated, a state most unusual for me. I could blame the weather, I could blame the onset of an older state of mind or I could just admit that I had committed an act of confidence on my abilities that simply does not exist. You may make up your own minds and snigger in the delightful knowledge that the guy who wrote ROSKILL, a book that has its own 'road journey,' a book that has a message of hope that transcends human fragility and replaces the word 'hopeless with 'hopeful. One must occasionally accept that knowledge is a fluid quality and when it backfires the consequences are---'interesting.' WE did get home but Perdy was looking at me as if to say----'why didn't you listen to me?'