Fun & Famous
HOW IS YOUR INNER TOMTOM?
My joggers and I walked home Thursday evening after pilates. Two anonymous streets, with minimal chance of acquaintances. But on the corner of the street stood three men looking a bit lost around them. It's also tricky in Bergen op Zoom, because the ugliest and darkest alley leads to the most beautiful square. In that good-natured part of me, the savior was fidgeting (in jogging pants and sweater). ‘Can I ask you something?’ Ah yes, here we go. ‘Do you perhaps know where the Kerkstraat is?’ Now I've only been wandering around this town for a few years and haven't quite mastered the street names yet. But I did know that Kerkstraat. ‘You go through this street and then you come to the Markt, cross over to the right and then you'll see the Mediq Pharmacy on the corner.’ And I felt it even before I said it. I was the prototype female signage, the prey for the ultimate male joke, the hare caught in two big, yellow headlights. I mentioned a physical point as a reference in the presence of three men. Worse still: to explain something to them. I mumbled a ‘bye‘ and a ’good luck‘ and sneaked around the corner. Behind me, I heard three men roaring with laughter and I think I heard something like: ’Did you hear that, the pharmacy on the corner?‘ It could very well be that this wasn't the case, but in my head, something formed along those lines.
Why is it that we ladies are so clumsy at giving directions? Or well, clumsy in the male world. I find the hairdresser at the third street corner where I need to turn left super handy as a pit stop. It nicely splits the route in two. I only have to remember part one and at my reference point, I scoop up the continuation and delete the first part. But men almost always refuse to ask for directions. So that's already a thumbs up for these three men. Or well, for that one who just asked while the other two stubbornly looked the other way. The brains were put under the lamp and what turns out? Men are better at navigating. I think I do pretty well myself, but okay, they can have this one. People think it comes from playing with cars when they were younger. So it's actually very easy to solve, right? Just give those young ladies a pink toy car, a case of best of both.
If you ask the evolution experts among us (how cool is that if you are one), then that orientation must have been somewhat on point for hunting back in the day. How else would you get home? The signs above the A4 still had to be invented. And we, we do it differently. I wanted to leave Mars and Venus nicely in the solar system, but it is what it is. Our cells interpret things differently. And women are empathetic, so they seek help faster. Hey, that sounds okay to me. Better than driving around the same block thirty times because you're too stubborn. Women find their way based on landmarks, men go by your north, east, south, west. If the man doesn't interfere with our skills in map and direction-finding? Then there's actually nothing wrong and we navigate quickly towards our destination. If he comes with directions or (well-meaning) advice? Then it goes completely wrong. So we can't do anything about it. But men are originally hunters and women gatherers. There's your answer to their lightning-fast navigation skills.
But even though we turn down the music when parking (yes, me too) and it takes a fraction longer for us to find the way, we are indeed better at tracking down an empty parking space. Look, now we’re talking. Because then it's super good that you find that little road flawlessly, but you have no use for it in Amsterdam without a parking space? He who laughs last… Ha.
