Wednesday was another lousy day, weather-wise. It was cold and damp and gloomy. It was a day to stay inside, but many of us had to get out to make a living. I am included in that bunch.
But when you are new to an area and you’re trying to find your way around, what do you do? You rely on Google Maps, GPS or even both. The question is, what if both of them are technically wrong? Do you believe the address you are given, or those mechanical gadgets and websites?
I was trying to find the Hamlet Senior Center. According to the item in our Church Calendar, a prayer breakfast was supposed to happen Wednesday morning. I took the address in the newspaper and I looked up the address in Google Maps, which gave me another street name for the street the center was on.
Then I put it in my GPS (Global Positioning System) to double check. It works by looking up addresses. I put in the address from the newspaper and my GPS could not find it.
Google and GPS came up with the street name Lakeview Drive. But the newspaper said the center is on Veterans Drive. So, who was I to believe? I followed the GPS to see where it would take me.
I meandered through the streets of Hamlet in the rain and cold and gloomy day. The GPS seemed to be taking me somewhere. I followed it to what was supposed to be Lakeview Drive. But the street sign I was said Veterans Drive. Bingo!
I followed Veterans Drive to the Hamlet Senior Center. When I got there, I had to find answers.
I spoke with a receptionist, who said that she had been working there for three years, and since she has been there, the address has been 102 Veterans Drive. Then someone piped in to say it used to be named Lakeview Drive. Oh, that’s an explanation.
The GPS and Google were right, if I were looking for the street years ago. But for my purposes, they were wrong.
The Hamlet Senior Center is right at Hamlet City Lake, so one can see why the street was named Lakeview.
But the street name was changed, and no one told Google or my GPS.
So, the question becomes, what can you believe when you’re trying to get around? I guess you take your chances and wing it and hope for the best.
