When I got my license, I still wasn’t driving right away. And when I got a car, two months later, I promptly moved to Edmonton. So even though I was born and raised in Calgary, the street system in Edmonton makes a lot more sense to me. P.S. – I lived in Garneau, near the university hospital and Whyte Avenue, which is land of the one-way streets. So I think that’s saying something.
However, despite my mastery of the one-way streets near the university and my kick-ass parallel park skills, I still get lost — a lot, and in any town I’m ever in. I’m OK in Edmonton most of the time, I panic occasionally in Calgary because I can’t picture the street that connects to the street I need to be on from where I’m going, and Lloyd has the odd curveball. I know it’s not exactly something to be proud of, but I think at this point, I’ve just come to terms with it. And the good news is, once I’ve been somewhere once, I can get there again no problem, no matter how long it took me to find it the first time.
Those were some of the thoughts going through my head this afternoon as I drove into the outlying area in Saskatchewan around Lloyd; the directions the guy had given me on the phone were, and I kid you not, “Turn south at the red building at (town), go south until you hit the arena and turn east, if you hit the railroad tracks you’ve gone too far. We have all the hay bales in front.”
Oh Lord.
Despite my worst suspicions, I actually found the place fine.
On a semi-related note, last summer, I found the house I want “when I grow up.” It’s in Edmonton’s river valley, which means it probably costs a fortune and a half, just off of Saskatchewan Drive once you pass over Gateway Boulevard. The family that lives there doesn’t know I’m going to live there one day. 🙂
Today, when I went out to do this story that I was sure I was going to get lost en route to, I discovered what I want the layout of my house to look like. I’m assuming the place used to be a farm house, but it must be added on to now. It’s huge and spacious, and I love it. Especially the wrought iron spiral staircase that starts in the floor in the corner of the kitchen and goes down to the basement (I’m assuming, I was just in the kitchen).
Considering the rest of my day, I guess the fact that I didn’t get lost (actually, there was one other highlight too when I got back to town 🙂 balances out all the frustrating stuff that happened today. 🙂
the Kat's meow 