LOST IN BORONIA

“Have you got a watch with you, Mum?” asked my son. I showed him my watch. “All right,” he said. “Follow us for fifteen minutes. Then turn back, and we will catch up with you on our way back.”

Soon my husband, my daughter-in-law and my son were quite some distance in front of me. All three were runners who were training on a regular basis. My husband looked back once and waved to me. He seemed to be a bit reluctant to let me walk on my own.

However I followed them quite happily and confidently, glad not to have to move along as fast as they did. What on earth could go wrong on a footpath/cycleway? I was thinking to myself. After about ten minutes I reached some sports-fields, where quite a few people had gathered. There was also a large road with a lot of traffic on it. The track I was on, seemed to lead through an underpass to the other side of this busy road.

Close to the sports-fields was a nice landscaped area, which looked very inviting to me. Better to go there and avoid the narrow underpass, I thought. So I roamed about the landscaped area for a while.

The sun had come out a bit. I enjoyed the scenery, thinking about this and that, walking here and there. Then it was time to walk back on the footpath/cycleway. I started walking briskly again. All of a sudden, the area felt rather unfamiliar to me. I was not sure, whether I had really come this way before.

Why could I not remember a single thing about where I had passed before, I asked myself. How could I be so unsure, whether I still went into the right direction? I was no aboriginal, I thought. An aboriginal woman would never have lost her sense of direction as I had.

I decided, I would walk five more minutes. If by then I could still not see anything that looked familiar, I would ask some passerby for directions. A young father came along. He was walking behind his little son, who was on a bike: “Excuse me, could you tell me please how I can get to MANUKA DRIVE?” The man’s answer was: “Sorry, but I have no idea where Manuka Drive is.”

The next person I asked for directions was a woman jogger, who did not seem to be running very fast, so I dared to interrupt her serious exercise. She stopped and talked to me for a while, but she also did not have a clue, where Manuka Drive was. When she continued with her jogging, she called back: “Good Luck!” Maybe she thought, I was completely lost and needed an enormous amount of luck to find Manuka Drive. But I was still confident, that this big road, called MANUKA DRIVE, could not all of a sudden have disappeared. The bus went along there, for heaven’s sake! Why doesn’t anybody know, where this road is? I thought to myself.

Finally I met a woman with two dogs. She told me, I had to go back. The first road to the right was not Manuka Drive, but the second road to the right, that was Manuka Drive. “Second road to the right!” She repeated, as she left with her dogs.

Where I was, the track went into three different directions, but thanks to that nice woman with the dogs I knew now exactly, which direction to take. I saw the jogging woman again, who was on her way back, and I called out to her: “I have to go back!” Her good luck wishes seemed to have worked, since I did know my way now. All of a sudden it was no problem at all to find Manuka Drive .

I turned to the right and there it was, the beautiful grand house at the corner, where the family had moved to recently. When we all had left the house earlier on, the grandson had started doing Thai Chi on the lawn at the back. He was still doing it as I opened the gate to the backyard. “Have the others come back yet?” I asked the grandson. “Not that I noticed,” was his answer.

Well, the others arrived within the next five minutes. Was I glad that I had made it to be back before them!

LOST IN BORONIA (second draft)

I reached a large road with a lot of traffic on it. The track I was on seemed to lead through an underpass to the other side of this busy road. I looked around and saw a pleasantly landscaped area close by, which appealed to me more than this narrow underpass. I decided I would roam around the landscaped area for a while and then turn back to where I had come from.

After about five minutes I was back on the footpath/cycleway. I started walking briskly again. All of a sudden the area looked rather unfamiliar to me. I was not sure, whether I had really come this way before.

Why could I not remember a single thing about where I had passed before, I asked myself. How could I be so unsure, whether I still went into the right direction? I was no aboriginal, I thought to myself. An aboriginal woman would never have lost her sense of direction as I had.

Another five minutes passed. I still could not make any sense of where I was going. So I asked several passers-by for directions to MANUKA DRIVE. Nobody seemed to know MANUKA DRIVE.

Finally I met a women with two dogs. She told me, I had to go back. The first road to the right was not Manuka Drive, but the second road to the right, that was Manuka Drive. “Second road to the right,” she repeated, as she left with her dogs.

Where I was, the track went into three different directions, but thanks to the woman with the dogs I knew now exactly, which direction to take. I remembered “second road to the right” and sure enough, there it was, the beautiful grand house at the corner, where I had started from, and where the son and his family had moved to only recently. After all it was my first visit to this place. If I was going out again on their walking tracks, I would take a bit more care where I was going in order not to get lost again. But BORONIA is a beautiful suburb of Melbourne, no doubt about it, and I love it.

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I wrote about having been lost in BORONIA quite a few years ago. I found both versions in my file. Which version do you like better, the first or the second one?