Walking on water via Google Maps

RETURN FROM THE WILDERNESS

This is the first blog in a loooong time. Yes, it will be worth the wait!

My plan, for the next 28 days, while participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge , is to take you on a stroll through the life of a Boomer.

NOT the grey nomad type, with the wind in your Winnebago and roads to travel.

This Boomer is the ‘still working because of the debt, just finished raising Millenials, single, animal lover (well dogs, cats, llamas) dedicated flamingo fancier’ type.

You will be introduced to new Kitchen Olympics events, the intricacies of mind/body misconnections AND exercise programs from a point of view of deep suspicion, dinky knees, clicky hips with just WHY tacked on.

GOOGLE MAPS vs REFERDEX

Now to the maps.

On the second day of 2021, I had a brunch date planned with Di Hill, a dear friend and brilliant blogger. I asked her to choose the place with a humble request that water views would be great. She came through with a fabulous option the Tide Wine Bar on the waterfront at Manly, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.

First up – I DID NOT CHECK the bar’s website. I simply put in the date and time into my fancy phone calendar AND found the location and locked it in.

I DID NOT CHECK at that precise moment what the actual location of said bar was. I just left it to my trusty digital calendar/map to guide me on the day.

This is vastly different from yesteryear when we of the Boomer generation would write down the address on our calendar on the fridge and make sure the referdex was still in the car.

The term referdex is apparently a Brisbane based description of a street directory. There is another story about moving between states of Australia and finding the local dialectal differences. But I digress as usual.

EVENT DAY

January 2 in any year in Brisbane is HOT or HUMID, or BOTH. Just sayin’.

I set off in my plucky white Honda Jazz (called Wanda). I knew how to get to Manly very well so I didn’t turn on the location helper until I got to the waterfront.

I pulled over safely and turned on the electronic thing.

Here is the map presented to me.

I went directly to the Google Maps app on the electronic thing.

No further help.

INTREPID ADVENTURER

I parked Wanda in Trafalgar St and set off on foot with the trusty electronic thingie in hand to GUIDE ME.

My handy instructions were to head east ON TRAFALGAR St for about 250m and I would be there! OK I said, this looks a bit dodgy but I’ll get started. I will not dwell on all the painful details but suffice to say I stood on the shore with the thingie still in my sweaty hand looking for the venue. Water, boats lots of them, buildings – no jetty that I could see. Even when I looked with forlorn hope at the spot on the water where the jetty might be.

Deep sigh.

NO water taxis. NO tug boats. NO visible means to get to that elusive bar. Was the expectation that I walk on the water? Or perhaps a quick jump in and impress everyone with my breaststroke?

I retraced my steps and sent a 3rd (or 4th?) distress text to Di and she told me, find the Manly Pool and I will meet you there.

YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR DESTINATION!

Di kindly swept up my whimpering, red-faced being (both from HOT and frustration) and we made a grand and triumphant entry to a fabulous restaurant/bar. We ate, drank and talked for hours, saved the world all with a view of the waterfront. My essential criterion was met and in the company of a wonderful, intelligent and very witty woman.

LESSONS LEARNED

Referdexes are seen as old school. I don’t own one anymore but I am extremely tempted to get one to spite/supplement Google Maps.

Isn’t there a fail-safe that says – this dot is surrounded by water – better check?

Check the website of the establishment you are visiting.

I will leave it to you – to do the comparison between the website map, the maps I was given and a referdex if you have one.

This is the non-grey nomad Boomer signing off – until next time.