Getting Lost is scary

[Live at the Witch Trials]

Not Paranormal related topic but normal mundane aspects of living can be unsettling ........


The other day i decided to go for a 2 hour drive to the coast as it was a nice day. Ive only passed my driving test one month ago so i thought it would be a nice run and that i could handle it no problem so i downloaded the map from Google Earth and off i went.

I got there no problem and in good time. I spent the whole day on the Beach it was nice.

I decided to set off on my return journey at about 7 pm thinking that the traffic on the motorways would be less busy.

This was a big mistake because the way that the Sun was shining made the Signs on the Motorway unreadable and i missed an exit sign.

What should have taken me 2 hours took 5 . I ended up driving right into central London which is a nightmare in itself !

When i did end up re orientating myself i got lost again and again.

Luckily i really helpfully Taxi driver showed me the correct route i needed to get home. (It really puts back your belief in Humanity when a random stranger helps you )

My main mistake was not printing off a return journey map as both routes were different.

The feeling of being lost is both a little bit scary, unnerving and very very stressfully !

The only time i previously remember being lost is when i was about 5 years old.

I was wondering if anybody who post's here had any interesting stories that they could share about being lost ?

 

[Experiencer7]

The Stolen Child


by William Butler Yeats

WHERE dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we've hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scare could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Away with us he's going,
The solemn-eyed:
He'll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than he can understand.

It is a primal fear., expressed throughout history. Whether it's a shopping mall, grocery store, wrong side of town, an untrodden path or
the deep, dark, fairy, wood. According to the archetypes., if we push past the panic., it can be an opportunity for wonder and revelation.
Summer of 1997., I was lost on top of a mountain.,(Ochoco National Forest)in central Oregon, overnight and part of the following day. I was found 45 miles from where I started.

 

[Live at the Witch Trials]

Yes its sure freakey being lost for a long period of time. You feel like your not in control.

I bet it was scary for you being lost in the Wilderness as there are lots of wild Animals like Bears ,Snakes and Wolves that even if they dont attack you or you dont see them you can hear them and that must be quite unerving.

Having said that you are allowed to have Guns in the USA so you could protect yourself.

 

[Experiencer7]

I wasn't armed at the time. Heard some huffing and snorts in the dark. Not that familiar with animal sounds. Could have been bear or deer. Definitely big enough to hold my attention for a while. I was in the park with friends for the scenery and quiet. Headed back down to retrieve some gear from my truck. Totally lost my sense of direction. I am usually fairly adept at following a mental bearing back to places. Not that time. And since then I have compulsively carried a compass in all my vehicles.

 

[Ally]

Well I have poor vision, no sence of direction and like to go on automatic pilot when I drive so yes I have been lost while out drving more times than I want to remember. I am also female. I hope I didn't offend anyone with that.

A good friend gave me an expensive GPS, but the thing talking to you and telling you where to go was more stressful to me than getting lost so I gave it backto him.

 

[Ally]

Oh and generally speaking people who work in a 7 11 usually do not have a clue how to give directions. Do you even have 7 11's in London ?

 

[Live at the Witch Trials]

Oh and generally speaking people who work in a 7 11 usually do not have a clue how to give directions. Do you even have 7 11's in London ?

Yes but they call them " 8 til Late ".

I always tend to find a petrol service station so that i can ask somebody or have a look at a map.

 

[Michael L.]

I went for a walk in Shanghai a couple of years ago, got distracted by the fact I was homesick, miserable and had just been told my wife that my beloved Jetta Wolfgang was destroyed beyond repair and suddenly realized that I had wandered out of sight of my hotel. Although I speak Mandarin reasonably well, I had discovered that I could not understand the thick Shanghai accent (it's like the Chinese version of a bad Boston accent) and I find it difficult to read Chinese, particularly the simplified version used in the Mainland. It was hot and I didn't expect to do anything more than stretch my legs a bit, so I had left without my pocket dictionary.

I was not staying in a tourist part of the city; I was staying close to the industrial complex where I was working and I was attracting quite a bit of attention as it was... many people, particularly older people who feel that they can shed the normal reserve of Chinese manners, wanted to touch my skin to see if I felt different! For a brief moment I was gripped with terror. I could barely see more than a block; the haze was so bad that I couldn't even pick out the sun in the sky and it was about 38 degrees C. In a city of well over 15 million people, most of them stacked on top of one another, I was feeling very, very isolated. I distinctly remember thinking that in this huge city, with its millions of people shoved in like sardines, I was easily the only Crow (I'm actually Blackfoot, Cherokee and Crow.. as well as Irish and German, but grew up thinking of myself as Crow thanks to my great, great grandmother) in the city and possibly in the country.

Then my good sense snapped in and I realized that even if I was not sure where I was, cities are all the same no matter where you go. I had a pocket full of yuan and even if I hailed a cabbie who couldn't understand my Chinese (and everyone seemed to understand me fine), the address was on my credit card like room key. You are never really lost when you have a fistful of currency! I ducked into a shady looking convenience shop, bought a Pepsi and went back to walking... if I didn't spot the high rise hotel then I would just hail a cab. In about fifteen minutes I did, in fact, see the hotel, even though I was many blocks away. Relieved I trudged on through the heat and even bought a pocket watch that featured Chairman Mao waving to mark the passage of each second (it is super awesome) on my way back.

Still, the whole experience unnerved me enough to make me go to Papa John's later that day and order a pizza and drink a soda with ice. It was the only non-Chinese meal I had in the nearly three weeks I spent in China.

Later that night I was back to buying meat on a stick from street dealers and drinking Tsingtao out of shotglasses, though!

 

[Live at the Witch Trials]

That was a great story.

I like Tsingtao beer

 

[Michael L.]

I would have fought the Red Army "Bloodsport" style for a well poured Guinness! But Tsingtao was like a buck for a liter and and a half and I managed to convince the place where I ate dinner every night (it had an English sign that proclaimed it was called The Smart Noshery That Makes You Slobbery) to ice down beer for me every night!