East is East, and West is West, and the wront one I have chose

[xela]

I just saw in the Somerville Police LJ "Man stabbed in East Somerville alleyway ... on Broadway near Glen Street" and my immediate thought was East end of Broadway? That's got to be close." So I pulled it up on google maps.

I live, as most of you know, near the west end of Broadway.

I've had this problem since, quite literally, my first hour in Massachusetts, twenty years ago: my mental orientation in the world is deeply rooted in the idea that the ocean is west. That's an instinct that always worked well for me — until I moved to the East coast. I first arrived in Mass on I-84, driving north toward I-90. I'd driven straight through from Ann Arbor, taking I-80 across Pennsylvania to avoid the tolls on the New York Thruway, so I'd already driven something like 750 miles when I crossed out of Connecticut. I saw the signs ahead, and without really parsing them, took the westbound ramp.

To this day, when I'm tired, I'll see an east or west reference, orient myself (or rather, think I've oriented myself) — and draw the 180° wrong conclusion. I guess it's nice to know my mental foibles are reliable. :)

Comments

[coraline]

i do the same exact damned thing EVERY TIME i'm in california (in reverse of course, having grown up here). i don't even consciously USE cardinal directions, i don't think of myself as having much of a mental map, and yet every damn time i think "ok, heading inland" i pick west.

[ckd]

I have mostly adjusted to them keeping the water on the wrong side, but I've also been confused by it now and then. The classic example was the time when I got on Storrow WB instead of Storrow EB because my dad was in the car. After all, if he's around then I must be visiting the west coast, right?

Check out Inner Navigation by Erik Jonsson for some other fun stuff.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I feel better now about the time, a few years ago, when you caught me out on some basic arithmetic. Even we Super Brainies can get in a muddle!