Problems
How do I find my way to a meeting? (I have been to several venues in London, England, and more than 50 clubs in Singapore.) Americans are confused by Stratford on Avon and Stratford in East London. Plus Oxford Street which is in London, leading several miles across the city in the direction of another city called Oxford. Americans looking for Oxford Street in London have been known to ask for Oxford (dropping what they think is the superfluous word street).
Answers
Re-using Agendas With Directions
In London, England, and in Singapore, I print the evening's agenda which I am emailed earlier in the day. I write on it the travel directions, nearest train station, exit from the train station. (In theory I could photograph the route but I never do.)
I file the clubs by name, A-D, E-K, L-R, S-Z. Pull out last visit's agenda. Add today's updated name and phone number of President or person to whom I have spoken on the phone.
Currently in Singapore phone calls using WhatsApp are free and do not use up your monthly phone call allowance. However, I've been warned that eventually WhatsApp may start charging.
Everybody wants a paperless office to have less clutter and save trees. However, most clubs provide printed agendas and instead of throwing them in the waste paper bin, when I return home from a club, I save the agenda. Then on my next visit, I pull out the previous programme and follow the directions.
Train Maps
I used to have another system. I wrote on the back of the train station map the lines and stops for places I visited frequently.
The Singapore MRT (train) maps have a translation in to Chinese. I am always meaning to learn Chinese from the map translations, but I never do.
Could I use the translation to ask for directions? In theory I could ask somebody in a hotel to circle the translation. Or simply check the number myself. Then, when meeting somebody who doesn't speak English, I could show them my destination in their language, print right and left, shrug my shoulders and raise my eyebrows. See where they point.
I don't. I find somebody who speaks English.
So, to make the map less bulky in my jacket pocket, or when sticky taping the train map to the inside of a diary or club directory, I tear off or cut off the Chinese translation page.
Stories
In Singapore in March 2017 I managed to go to Nee Soon East Community Centre, when my meeting was at Nee Soon South community centre. I had a conversation with the admin office on the ground floor of Nee Soon East. No meetings today, they said. The club meets Thursday. (This was on a Monday.)
I was disappointed. I thought I had wasted my time taking a journey to a meeting on the wrong day. My whole evening was wasted as it was too late to reach the alternative club meeting that night in the centre of the city about an hour away.
Then I got a phone call. A girl's voice asked me, "Where are you?"
I replied, "Already in your building. But the staff in the office say there's no meeting today."
(Community Centre staff have told me 'no meeting today' before. Usually when a contest is on a weekend and the usual meeting is midweek, so I was wary about taking the opinion of office staff, when I'd already had "see you tonight' messages on my mobile phone.)
Once in a Singapore suburb on the Changi line I was half an hour early for a meeting at a Community Centre. The person allowed to collect the room key had not turned up. As is frequently the case in Singapore, I was half an hour late, yet I was the first person to arrive.
The girl I spoke to when I was in Nee Soon East agreed to come to the first floor to find me. I get tired of waiting and asked various people, "Where is the lift?" (Americans say elevator.) Three people were visitors and did not know. Eventually I found the lift. I watched the lift going up and down to the top, third floor, but nobody arrived.
Eventually, I and the girl made phone contact again. I could not remember her name, but searched my phone for the last call from an unknown number.
She said, "I could not find you."
I said, "I am on the ground floor of Nee Soon East Community Centre." She said, "I am on the third floor of Nee Soon South Community centre. You are in the wrong Community Centre."
Her venue was only one train stop away. (Plus the five minute run back to the station. Waiting at the lights to cross forward then right at the union by the MRT station of the six lane motorway through the suburb.)
Then puffing up the stairs of the overhead bridge. Cross the bridge.
I arrived at the meeting, trying not to look flustered, but serene, just in time for my slot, ironically a keynote speech about the importance of time. As Woody Allen said, showing up is half the battle.
Ruislip, London
The same thing has happened to me in London. Once I went to Ruislip Gardens when I should have been at Ruislip Manor. The hostess has her phone off during meetings. (Any group should have a designated person with their phone on vibrate so they can answer queries from people who are late or lost.)
The book group was run by people who did not take kindly to members who turned up after the discussion but in time for the tea break, smoked salmon sandwiches and coffee or tea.
Worries Wine Diners
On another occasion in London, we were late for a wine dinner. We went to the wrong street in London, same name street, but different postcode. If we had checked the nearest tube station (underground rail station) with the host we would have known we were on the wrong side of London. The wine dinner organiser had turned off their phone. It's really helpful when attending a meeting to get the phone numbers of all the other members and their spouses so that next time you get lost you have somebody to call.
Singapore Success
I had followed this phone number gathering procedure in Singapore. I had previously had trouble finding Braddell Hight Community Centre which is near Serangoon MRT station, not near Braddell station. I have also had to be careful in Singapore with Bukit Timah, Bukit Merah, and Bukit Panjang. Other similar sounding names in Singapore are Jurong Green and Jurong Central. Like Ruislip Gardens and Ruislip Manor in London, two adjacent areas in Singapore had different but similar sounding names, Nee Soon South and Nee Soon East.
Fortunately, all ended well. In Singapore, despite the irony of my speaking about being on time, when I was not on time, I won the vote for the best speech.
Tips on Maps
When I changed my phone, being offered a new phone with my phone tariff, I had to delete aps to make space and reinstall them. I found I also had to re-learn what to do.
To return from the meeting at the Community Centre to the MRT station the quickest way, taking a short cut walking through a housing estate instead of along the main road, I typed into my mobile phone map. Up came the symbol for Google maps. I clicked on the symbol for driving or walking.
The map on your phone screen shows a symbol indicating where you are now and you can see that you are walking in the right direction.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
