No true north

Dec 08, 2019 15:25

My last year in grad school in Illinois, circa 2001, a few of my fellow grad students were going to attend a conference in Pittsburgh, and they came to me for tips on navigating Da Burgh ( Read more... )

lj idol, grad school

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Comments 22

karmasoup December 8 2019, 20:41:16 UTC
I've been in cities like that -- understand the crazy. I giggled at how you figure so many end up in Pittsburgh -- after all, why else would they be there? The 4 different "compass points" are fabulous! XD

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oxymoron67 December 9 2019, 20:04:41 UTC
All sorts of cities are like this. Manhattan south of 14th St. is a confusing maze, and I just think that whoever designed Boston hated people.

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karmasoup December 10 2019, 02:26:27 UTC
Well, at least your wrestler turned movie star turned Governor didn't say on the David Letterman that the streets of your capital city were obviously designed by drunken Irishman! (Fortunately, the Irish aren't bothered by statements like this! ;-)

(And, yeah, I've been to both Manhattan and Boston, long before GPS!)

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oxymoron67 December 12 2019, 18:08:18 UTC
Lol.

No, we don;t get upset about he "Drunk Irishman" thing, mostly because there's some truth to it.

GPS is a Godsend.

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adoptedwriter December 9 2019, 00:49:56 UTC
Lol.

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oxymoron67 December 9 2019, 20:04:52 UTC
Thank you.

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rayaso December 10 2019, 18:36:44 UTC
I love the way you handle dialog. And I enjoyed this. For me, navigating Pittsburgh would be just as easy as where I live. Equally lost in both places.

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oxymoron67 December 12 2019, 18:01:37 UTC
Everyone I know from Pittsburgh navigates by landmarks because the streets are so screwy.

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roina_arwen December 10 2019, 22:53:21 UTC
As one who lacks an innate sense of direction, I totally get this!

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halfshellvenus December 10 2019, 23:41:45 UTC
Me: But there’s more than one hill and more than one river.
This sounds as bizarrely locally-referential as millysdaughter's experiences in ND.

Basically, don't ask how to get anywhere unless you already know the answer. :O

The multiple hills and rivers don't help either. Actually, this also reminds me of asking directions in the U.K, and being told to go to the "High Street," which is not a street named "High" and is not necesarily high or 'up' in any way, and may not be the main street, either. Only the locals know what they mean by that. :O

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oxymoron67 December 12 2019, 18:03:23 UTC
Back int he early 90's, I was walking to my job at a bank in Downtown Pittsburgh, and some very confused people asked me for directions.

I ended up just walking them over to where they needed to go. It was only a few blocks out of my way, and honestly, it was just easier than giving them directions.

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