When u read, u begin with ABC

I just read the most PERFECT description of trying to drive from one place to another in England. It is from a mystery novel my father-in-law gave me. Here it is:

Have you ever tried to find a village in England after dark? Night in the desert is nothing to it. You see a sign at last that says 'Whatsit two and a half miles' and you think: Good old Whatsit! Nearly there! Hurrah for England and signposts! And then half a mile on you come to a place where three ways fork, and there's a nice tidy signpost on the little bit of green in the middle and every blame one of that signpost's arms has got at least three names on it, but do you think one of them mentions Whatsit? Oh, no! That would make it far too easy! ... So you take one of the three roads, and after passing two more signposts that don't take any notice of Whatsit, you come to one that says: Whatsit, six and three-quarters. So you start off all over again, four miles to the bad, as it were, and it happens all over again. And again! And by the time Whatsit has done that on you half a dozen times, you don't care what happens as long as you can stop driving around corners and go to sleep. (from A Shilling For Candles by Josephine Tey)

The same also applies to the Motorways (interstates) in England and all the roads in Germany. They can't just say M-1 North or M-2 South and have an arrow. NOOOOO..... they just put the name of several towns and have an arrow. Heaven help you if you don't know the name of every town between you and the place you want to be! And if it's August, you better have a hotel reservation....as we found out the hard way. Maybe that'll be a blog entry for later.

Josephine Tey is a British novelist who wrote during the first half of the 20th century. She wrote mysteries to support herself so she could write plays, which is what she really loved. It's kind of like Madeline L'Engle acting in plays to support herself while she was writing. Their 'real' jobs sound so much more fun than testing software or building cabinets or waiting tables which are the real jobs here in Nashville.

Back to Ms. Tey...my father-in-law recently discovered her and is reading all her books (and then passing them on to others.) I've read and enjoyed 2 of them so far. The author does not let you figure out whodunit, so there's no point in trying. But the plots and characters are interesting.