Now everybody's lost the way that I was...

I COME from a family where getting lost is the family tradition.
Give my aunt a map and a mission to get from Brisbane to Toowoomba, and she may just manage it without going via Sydney. My late grandmother was pretty much the same: after one visit I mentioned to Mum that Grandma had taken me to the cinema then gone past a place they used to live at when Mum was a young 'un. Mum's response was along the lines of asking whether we'd got lost doing this treacherous stunt.
I'm the same on this side of the world. After a lifetime of growing up with the sun in the north, I have to really think about it when someone gives me a compass direction to head in.
This extends to the wonders of the internet.
Ignoring the obvious that pretty much any search will end up with at least one link to adult content, it never ceases to amaze me just where you can end up when surfing the very interesting 11pm-7am night shift away.
Wikipedia's the worst for this. Pretty much anything in an article that has an article of its own will have a link to that page. This can lead some interesting places.
Take Paul Simon for example. I've upgraded the iPod after the old one decided it wasn't going to be reliable anymore, and as such have been going through familiar artists to get songs that can be played with minimal complaints from drivers during this summer's touring season. After finding quite a few of Simon's solo tracks that I liked I decided to have a look at his Wikipedia article.
While reading this (and having little side adventures to the Simon & Garfunkel page), I found that in his younger days Simon had written a few songs with Bruce Woodley of The Seekers. Curious as to the appeal of The Seekers (or indeed why they're treated as royalty back home), I clicked on that link.
While looking that up I found out that The Seekers classic "The Carnival Is Over" was played at the end of Expo '88, the world exposition that many people consider the birth of a newer, more city-like Brisbane.
Which in turn ties in with a blog by Brisbane author John Birmingham on the Brisbane Times website about Brisbane and what could be done to make it great.
Even for a quick reader like myself, this does take a little bit of time to get through.
Such is the wonder of the internet. More than just adult content...