I live two blocks from my office, which also happens to be 2.6 miles. The blocks here (roundabout to roundabout) can be quite long. They divide the city into neighborhoods. There are roughly a dozen neighborhoods and as you navigate the city signs at the roundabouts indicate which neighborhood you are entering.
For that reason few people refer to street names here. They reference neighborhoods or roundabouts in giving directions. When I told the cable guy I live on the corner of Shakboot and Al Awwal he gave me a blank look. I followed by saying, "On the Prowzenick roundabout..."
Because the city is divided by these long stretches I have found myself seeing where I want to go but having no idea how to get there. Once I parked my car and walked across the street to Hardees because I figured it would be easier than driving there.
In Dubai today we found ourselves on the wrong side of Zayed (the main road connecting Abu Dhabi and Dubai. A relatively simple task - get to the other side of the road - took over 30 minutes. Even when we could see where needed to go we couldn't get their due to construction.
I'm still debating whether I like the roundabout system here better or worse than our streets in the US. There are certainly advantages to both systems.
The "you can't get there from here" feeling is a definite negative.
That reminds me of driving in Pittsburgh. There are all sorts of bridges and tunnels and one-way streets. I remember being on a bridge and SEEING the road I wanted to get to just below me. Short of bailing out from the car we could not figure out how to get there. About an hour later we were finally able to do so!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised they have Hardee's there. Most of the ones I know of in the US have closed. I know of a few in Iowa that are still open, though.