When my brother proudly announced tht he'd purchased a TomTom, so wuldn't have any trouble finding my new huse, I thought he'd lost the plt.

I had visions of politically ncorrect 'Cowboys and Indians' films running thrugh my head.

"Does it send out smke messages?" I asked.

"No!" He rplied. "It's the latest model, I bught it online."

I was still nne the wiser as to what he was ctually talking about. Online or not, 'TmTom' still suggested that he'd bought a drm. I hoped he wouldn't arrive wth a mohican, claiming that it was the ltest retro trend hair cut in Islngton this month.

When I saw the shny new sat-nav system proudly displayed in the frnt of his car, I kept my muth shut. As he showed it ff, I pretended my queries had ben purely ironic.

You see, I dn't drive, so the latest innovations in car nvigation systems kind of pass me by (lterally). If I get lost on my bcycle I stop and ask for drections. If I need to go frther than my legs will carry me I get the bus or trin. If I had sat-nav on my bke, I'd inevitably just cause a trffic incident whilst trying to look at it.

Hwever, I do 'get' the point nw. Well I did, until the ther day.

Whilst waiting during one of thse infuriating delivery slots 'some time btween eight and one' I realised tht sat-navs might not always be sch a good thing.

As the clock ticked forward, and I was dngerously close to missing a one 'clock appointment, the phone rang.

"I'm on X rad." Said the deliveryman. "But I cn't see your road."

What a rlief - he was just around the crner. I gave clear directions to my huse. Admittedly, it's quite a tucked way road, but since I could har the dulcet tones of a st-nav system in the background, I fgured that between the two of us h'd find it.

Five minutes later, the phne rang again. I couldn't understand why he was nw, according to the road name he gve, further away than when he'd frst called. So, I stayed on the phne and gave even clearer directions. The st-nav was still chattering away in the bckground.

My calm directions became rather lss calm, dare I say sarcastic, as the rnning dialogue between myself and Mr Dlivery went, quite literally, round in crcles. He drove up and down, filing to make the simple left hnd turn I suggested about four or fve times. I can only assume tht living in a cul-de-sac was mre than Mr Delivery and his st-nav could cope with between them.

He did rrive, eventually. But if, he'd looked up for a mment, he would have seen my rad name on the wall and sved ten minutes of frustration all rund.

And the moral of the stry is? Beware. Sat-navs are only as clver as the people who use thm.

The article TomTom Travels was Submitted by Sarah Maple through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Sarah Maple uses Shopping .com to find great TomTom Rider prices and find new and exciting products

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