The Magic Roundabout and the importance of the Glossary
It’s not often that printed driving directions grab my attention, yet it happened a few weeks ago. I was planning a trip to Cardiff, and since I don’t know the area well, I decided to check out and the route online. Although I have sat-nav, I always like to have a vague idea of where I’m going, so I print driving directions as a back-up. I was reading through the directions, and I noticed the following step:
“Cross the Magic Roundabout, 2nd exit”
Wow – I’m going to be crossing the magic roundabout. That sounds pretty exciting, right? Well, maybe….
For me the phrase “Magic Roundabout” conjured up two images. Firstly, a stop-motion animated children’s TV program from the 1970s, and secondly a rather famous and complex road junction in Swindon. Assuming that the likelihood of this “magic roundabout” being related to the 1970s TV show was extremely low, I made the assumption that it must be a frighteningly complex junction. You know the type – a busy junction that only locals can traverse, and visitors use at their peril. A shudder went down my spine as I imagined having to traverse this seemingly increasingly complex junction after a long journey.
Having set this expectation very firmly in my mind, the reality was somewhat more—well—glacial. It transpired that the magic roundabout in Cardiff was rather less ‘magic’ than I had been anticipating. It was nowhere near as complex as the ‘magic roundabout’ in Swindon, which was the benchmark I had been expecting, and in many ways, given its surreal nature, it shared more in common with the 1970s TV show! In short, it was a normal roundabout with some interesting art on it. My presumptions and expectations had been altogether wrong. I later passed it on foot and took a picture:
I arrived at the shop, and there was every type of furniture item that you could imagine – plus a few items you wouldn’t expect! There were tables, chairs, dolls houses, even shovels and forks. The shop was utterly jam packed with all sorts of interesting and intriguing items. In fact, it was so rammed-full of furniture, I couldn’t even get inside. I didn’t even know where to start looking, so I gingerly peeked around the door. After about five minutes, I managed to attract the shop owner’s attention. He clambered over the furniture to reach me, and I explained what I was looking for. He immediately knew where I could find the exact thing I wanted, and pointed me in the precise direction of a practically new set of lockable office drawers. I bought them and took them home. They were an absolute bargain too!
