Fun in the Valleys

I think yesterday set a new record - the first time I've been to Wales twice in one week.  After the visit to Newport on Tuesday, yesterday morning I was given a pick-up in Stevenage for Watford, and "... then pop round to [another customer in Stevenage], and they'll give you something for (I didn't catch the name) - it's somewhere near Swansea; the postcode is SA10".  I did as I was bid, delivered the job in Watford, and then sat for a while in the car park of a nearby retail outlet to study my other assignment.  One of my earliest colleagues once told me, "five minutes with the map can save you an hour on the ground," and although I often ignore it nowadays, it remains sound advice.

The paperwork I'd been given was of little use.  It showed the recipient's name, the name of a farm and the postcode.  After the farm's name came the letters 'seve' - just like that, with no capital letter - but this meant little, for the farm's name was similarly unadorned.  I'd never heard of this but concluded that it might be a place near Swansea, so I looked in the index of my national atlas, and then in my Swansea area map.  Drawing two blanks, I also tried the West Wales map, but this was no more productive.  Almost as a last resort, I put the postcode into SatNav.  The map on the tiny screen showed a small side-turning called Tynewedd off the B4109, and I turned back to the atlas to find where this road might be.  It showed nowhere called Seve along this road, and was obviously not the right scale to show an individual farm.

I happened to look up just then, and noticed that SatNav had progressed to the stage of writing the route for the journey, and said 'Tynewedd, Seven Sisters.'  The mystery was solved - I berated the absent customer who had provided only four of the thirteen characters of the place-name, and thought back to those terribly dark days pre-SatNav, when we had to rely on maps.  I supposed that I might have been more vigilant on receiving the parcel, and would have made sure that I knew the destination before leaving.  However, off I went, with the aim of getting there before dark so I could find the farm.

It was as well that I did for, clever though SatNav was at finding the road it had identified as applicable to the given postcode, the farm I wanted was actually down the adjacent turning off that main road.  Luckily as I drove along Tynewedd, examining house names and disturbing the local dogs, a helpful resident was able to tell me where I ought to be.  I always believe in apologising for being in the wrong place and for any inconvenience caused.  It seems to help, and certainly did on this occasion.  The parcel delivered, I headed first for fuel and then for home.  This is something that I can trust SatNav for, since it has a live connection to a fuel database, and was able to pinpoint a Morrisons just by the M4.  However, as I approached this, I found I was about to pass a Texaco station, which was even more convenient.

With no further hassle, I was home before bedtime, and with the weekend to follow, could complete all my bookwork and unwind before retiring.