i’m speaking with some strangers … here’s why,
as i approached the street corner, i noticed a girl facing away from the road, looking confused.
her: can i ask you a question?
me: sure.
her: how do i get to massachusetts avenue?
me: *thinks to self if the accent didn’t give her away, her not calling it mass ave would have.* *also thinks to self, ummm* umm, if you follow this road straight *points* you’ll hit mass ave on your right.
biker pulled over due to red light: well, which part of mass ave do you want?
her: the 1000s.
me: *gulps*
biker: oh, you want to keep going up mem drive to that street light up there, turn left and it’ll intersect with mass ave. you might hit mt. auburn first, but keep going.
her: *looks at both of us* great. thank you!
me: *looks at biker* thank you!!!
i was grateful to be saved by someone who had a better sense of direction, but, truth be told, i was a bit bummed to have missed my walk signal at this very busy intersection, although, if the worst that came out of this is that i had to wait, i’d take it. i’d rather that than giving someone the wrong set of directions (which, despite the amount of time i’ve lived here, has happened. curse my lack of sense of direction!)
Abigail Mumford 
I have a horrible sense of direction myself, but I must look like I know where I’m going, because people are always asking me for directions. If I tell them what I think I know, I always preface it with a dire warning that I’m probably wrong. *grin*
ooh, use a preface! that’s so simple, why didn’t i think of that?! i usually just go with “i don’t know, sorry” but i did know where mass ave was, it just wasn’t the particular part of mass ave that girl needed!
I always worry about sending people in the wrong directions. Yesterday a woman inside the Harvard T stop asked me which way she should exit for Arrow Street. The best I could do was tell her to follow the curve on Mass Ave and then ask someone else in 2 blocks, since I couldn’t explain it from here :))
ooh, arrow street is very hard to explain! you did a good job, especially the part about telling her to ask again in two blocks. ha ha. i love that.