Flying blind
For a graduate student in the humanities, someone who by definition is lacking a certain amount of direction in life, street signs are important. As engorged with college students as it is, you would think Boston would have plenty of them, but these East Coasters are philosophers and take the long view of things, so the signs generally only tell you what city you’re going towards, rather than what street you’re on and which intersections might be in your near future. Which gives rise to thoughts like: “oh, so you mean this east-bound street in Cambridge is headed towards Boston? Really? Are you sure about that?” I think even China does a better job labeling its streets, even though every other street in the country looks like it was built in the last 18 months to replace a chicken shed or a field for shooting homosexuals. I don’t know why they don’t just start making signs saying “Rome” with an arrow pointing forward; then they’d be good for every road in the city.
December 25th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Ha. Nothing compared to the signs that cry “The North” when you’re lost driving around London, or “The East” when lurching around Bristol, or even better, “The South-West” when you’re scraping the barrel for ideas in Oxford. That said, however, intersections have a little less value here in Britain.
December 25th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Yes, well, since according to Douglas Adams the only way to escape from, say, Cambridge is drive around the city at increasing speeds until you achieve escape velocity and then fly off at the nearest exit, any specific directions might only serve as a cruel taunt. Plus Britain isn’t much bigger than my parents’ backyard anyway, so you’ll probably get where you’re going eventually.