Motorway driving and the Sat Nav

Drove on the motorway for the first time this weekend. The motorway is basically an interstate but without a McDonald's at every exit. (There are of course McDonald's here, as well as Starbucks, KFC and Subway, but they don't seem as prevalent as in the U.S. Thank goodness.)

Driving on the motorway wasn't bad. Even drove for a bit on the M25, London's Ring Road (Beltway). Once you're on the motorway, it's pretty much like driving on the interstate, except the left lane is the slow one and you pass on the right. The speed limit is usually 70 mph and that's where I kept the speedometer. I wasn't the slowest driver but I did get passed some. Ah, happy medium.

Getting around is a lot easier with the Sat Nav (GPS or TomTom). The kind lady in the little box instructs you to "in 200 yards, turn left" and "cross the roundabout, second exit." The kids and I never would have found the shopping area in Bracknell without her assistance.

The Sat Nav is only as good as the information you put in, though. I didn't put an exact address in for the shopping center, just the street from a printed map. So when the lady said, "You have reached your destination," I knew we were in the general area but needed to find parking. No problem, we'll just take a spin around the block and follow the signs to the parking. Around the block we go (I know I told you in another post that you can't necessarily go around the block when you miss a turn, but in this case, it actually was possible) and the Sat Nav repeats, "You have reached your destination." To which the helpful backseat driver adds, "Mommy, you have reached your destination!" Yes, I know, we just need to find parking. Sigh.

Another pitfall is asking the Sat Nav to take you to the city center, a pre-determined setting. Most towns have a High Street, which is often the main street. "High Street" is both a proper noun and a figure of speech. You might see in an ad, "Don't pay high street prices!" which means don't pay retail or designer prices.

Anyway, last week I asked the Sat Nav to take me to the Sunningdale city center. A reasonable thing, since I'd already been to Sunningdale a couple times and was pretty certain I knew where I was going. Well, as it happens, Sunningdale's High Street is not its main street, so the Sat Nav lady steered me off course.

Today the kids and I left the Sat Nav and the car at home and walked to Ascot's High Street to go to the library and grocery store. That's Ascot above.