The public's ignorance astounds me. I'm not referring to everyone, though there’s a worryingly sizeable contingent letting the side down for
everybody else.
I’ll give you an
example. A few years ago, I was walking through town when a girl stopped me to
ask for directions. She started by shouting “Oi” from the other side of the
road, which didn’t exactly get me on side.
“What’s up?”
I replied, tetchily.
“Where’s the
station?” Politeness clearly
wasn’t her strong point.
I was just relieved she’d asked me something I knew. I
started confidently, unaware that I was about to fall at the first hurdle.
“You head
straight down this road until you get to the undertakers."
She looked at me
blankly.
“What’s an
undertaker?”
I was so
surprised by the question that I didn’t know how to respond. I’d never been
asked to define a funeral director’s job before, least of all without notice.
Did she know that
people die? Had she never considered who deals with the body? If not, she
was heading for a rude awakening. I didn’t want to be the one to drop the
bombshell.
Also, how could I give directions to someone with such a narrow
field of reference? If she struggled with undertaker, how would she cope with the other landmarks on the way, like the church, the Football Club or
off-licence? “Follow the sound of the choo-choo” wouldn’t cut it.
Sometimes, it's best to stay indoors. That way, you don't run into them.