My GPS

I got my GPS last year and am just learning how to use it now. At my age, this is a major accomplishment because I have always been mechanically and electronically challenged.

When I visited my daughter in Virginia, near Washington, in the spring I had to use her GPS when my friend, Mary, my granddaughter, Lisette, and I got off the Metro and had to find our way home. It terrified me. When it said, "Turn right", I turned without understanding that the voice didn't want me to turn immediately. We ended up driving almost into Washington on the expressway before I was able to find an off ramp. Shelley's GPS speaks in a haughty British accent and kept nagging me constantly with, "Recalculating. Take the next exit to your right". The problem was there was a wall between me and the lanes which could exit. The nag didn't take the hint when I told her to bugger off.

Then Kim and I drove to Washington a few weeks ago and I sort of got used to "Betty" (as Kim calls her GPS). Kim did all the driving and instructed me on how the GPS worked so that I could relax and learn. This helped a lot.

Today I ventured out in the city I'm very familiar with and attempted to learn the idiosyncrasies of my "Betty Boop". I apparently have the cheap model because mine has no neat British accent, just a plain old Canadian one. Mine doesn't chill me with the words, "Recalculating", when I take a wrong turn or just decide to take a different route than she wants me to take. She simply accepts the change and deals with it. I like this much better.

My "Betty Boop" isn't very smart. She pronounces the names of streets in a really odd way which makes it difficult for me to understand. For instance, she wanted me to turn at Joneston Rd. and she pronounced it jon-ess-ton. Then when I approached Kenora she pronounced it kenerra. Coming up the Claremont Access, "Betty Boop" referred to it as the Claremont A.C.C. This will take some getting used to, I guess. I need it mainly for the highway, anyhow.

I hope she doesn't pronounce "highway" as hig-h-way.