Off course

As part of my job, I’m required to do some courses for accreditation. I did one today, which required driving to the city. Not too far, only an hour-and-a-quarter usually. But this time I had to be there by 8.30am. That meant driving through peak hour traffic – to a place I’d never been before. A recipe for disaster. And more of a two hour drive now.

I thought I had it planned. I thought I knew the route to a certain point and I looked up the map book for the rest. Why bother with the GPS, I thought. It will only confuse me. I made sure the kids’ school things were ready last night, so that I could get up at 5.30am, eat my breakfast, get ready and go. I’d packed my favourite CDs into the car. I was on the road at 6.20 and feeling good.

There wasn’t too much traffic on the road at first – a few trucks and city workers in a hurry to get into the hustle and bustle. As I hit the city though, it began to build up. Time to put Segovia on. Nice calming music. After a while, I began to wonder why it was taking so long to get there. Then I saw a sandhill and began to worry. When I came over a hill and saw the big, beautiful blue sea, even Segovia’s nice calming music stopped working. Where I was supposed to be was nowhere near the sea, and it was already 8.25. I’d taken a wrong turn about 20km back, but I have absolutely no sense of direction so I didn’t notice.

Frantic skipping through the map book (safely parked in a carpark) finally put me back on the right track, but I rolled into the course fifteen minutes late. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I hate being late. As punishment for my idiocy, of course, the only seats left were right at the front. Next time I do a course that starts at 8.30am I’m going to beg a bed with one of my sisters the night before. Or maybe I’ll just drive down to the place and camp in the carpark overnight!