Driving Rant #3: Zero satellites

A friend of mine had given me a GPS system for my car last year, worried that I would lose my way on a road trip through the States. It's served me well a few times, even for driving in my own city.

But sometimes, it just plain sucks.

April showers bring May flowers. They also bring no signals. "Zero satellites" ... that is not what I want my GPS to indicate to me while trying to drive off the island on which I live towards a direction that I'm not sure about.

Sure, I had played safe and printed out Googled directions to my friend's house. I decided though as I drove through the dark evening drizzle with wipers going at full blast that this was NOT the time to unclench my two fists from my steering wheel to turn on my little reading light to try to read the printed directions. Too bad too that my start point had changed since I'd printed these out, now taking me over an entirely different bridge.

Then suddenly through the dark gloomy sky ... "Three satellites" ... I now had directions!!

My GPS system spoke to me ... "Turn around at the first possible opportunity". Great, I was on a highway, in fact, on a long bridge going one way. I continued driving.

My GPS system spoke to me again ... "Turn left now". Still on the same bridge, I ignored the sultry voice with the sexy British accent. Again, she spoke to me, "Turn left now". I looked at the GPS route and realised that those "three satellites" were not recognizing my position!

What to do, what to do ... then suddenly, the GPS started recalculating. "Take the next exit" ... but of course, it was too late for me to do this safely.

Modern technology, what would we do without it?

Driving Rant #2: Fraidy Cat

Drivers who huddle over their steering wheels and drive much slower than the speed limit, blocking traffic, always freak me out. It's like they're waiting for an accident to happen.

If they're that afraid of driving, why drive?

Driving Rant #1: Parking Courtesy

As I hopped into my car the other day, another driver stopped suddenly beside me upon his realisation that he'd found what is considered a "pot of gold" ... a parking spot in a busy area of town. Then slowly, he moved his car forward to a "better position", well, at least according to him.

He figured, "What a great spot to wait for this amazing parking spot, diagonally, directly in front of her. There's no way someone else is gonna take this spot!"

And as the cars that had to pass him on this narrow road barely squeezed by, my engine purred patiently until I decided to cut the motor.

Then the driver, who turned out to be a woman, screamed, "Are you leaving?!"

I screamed back, "No, you're blocking me!"

Then stupidly, the driver reacted by creeping her car forward, just a tad, but only enough to block me a little less. I sat there in my silent car and waited. She creeped forward some more. I wondered how dense this driver could be. I started my car again, but only when she had finally given me enough space to move out without manouvering some ridiculous angle, and then once beside her, I motioned for her to put her window down.

"You know, if you want to take someone's parking spot, you are waiting in the worst spot possible. You should wait behind."

"That's right, girlfriend," I further added in my head. "If you want my parking spot, you have to make it easy for me to get out."

Then the car stuck behind us beeped.