Today, I have learnt Geography.
It's shocking how little I know about the whereabouts of places in Britain. Come on, I've lived here for however long, it should be expected that I have some basic knowledge of the island which I call my home: where cities are; distance between places; how near people are to each other.
Yet still, I find that someone will mention a town and my immediate response is "where's that now?!" It's embarassing, really and the only reason I feel fit to mention it here is because I know I'm not alone in my limited concept of our country as a bigger picture.
Admittedly, it's got better since I started at university, what with people coming from all over the place. Even then, the majority were "(near) London" or failing that, (near) Manchester or (near) Leeds. Of course, these were the easiest way to explain to these uneducated students that Bolton and Harrogate are in fact, quite decent-sized towns, you probably should have some idea of where they are, or at least have heard of them!?
Thing is, despite all the diversity, I continue to fail to grab the image of where places are. North of here or South of here, I can just about manage. When you go to how left or right or how far up/down, I struggle. To be honest, if you gave me a blank outline of England along with 15 major cities to place correctly, I'd be lucky if I got 5 within a respectable radius of their actual location. It's a truly awful confession to make, as I think it is important that we have some idea of where we are in relation to other places, especially with the "world is getting smaller" and transport links improving, it's necessary to know where you stand and how to get from one place to the next.
Google is my friend. But when you're introduced to someone with their "it's a town in Wiltshire" and in my head it's like, "there's a county called Wiltshire!?" a nod and a smile can only go so far before they realise that, yeah, she clearly has no idea where that is...
:oS
On the jukebox: Snow Patrol ~ Set The Fire To The Third Bar
I couldn't tell you the way around my home town and I've lived there all my life. Same goes for my Uni town...people sometimes come to me in the street for directions and even after almost 3 years I still have trouble pointing them in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteI figure it's because I rely on landmarks rather than maps and directions to get me places, added to which I can't map read for all the tea in China and coming from Farmerland it's not expected of me...it's all hedges and small country lanes down these parts :oP
It's gorgeous and sunny today xxx
It is gorgeous and sunny today :-)
ReplyDeleteI've always prided myself on my knowledge of England and where things are - partly to do with living in the middle of the country, partly to do with having done a lot of travelling in Britain, and partly because I'm not one of these people who can just get on a train without any concept of where I'm going. But university has sure helped, particularly with my geography of the South of England. For instance, I can now accurately place Hertfordshire and Hampshire without getting them confused and I know that Reading is west, not north-westsoutheast? of London.
The notable exception is your fine county of Wiltshire :-P Oh, and Sussex I'm never quite sure of either...
I endlessly get Surrey and Sussex mixed up in location, and chances are if the town isn't one I've been to (and even that's not a guarantee) I won't have the faintest idea where it is. Worse, I assign ALL places I don't know where they are a location, generally somewhere north of Birmingham but South of the Scottish border. I can say that with confidence, because I've been to both Birmingham and the Scottish border. At the moment, Poole, Hull, Liverpool and Manchester are all there, along with Bath and now Wiltshire.
ReplyDeleteI am actually horrifically ignorant. I appal myself. *opens Google maps*