Many years ago I bought a SatNav which I called Roger

I have had many happy hours of memories where it tried [unsuccessfully] to steer me off a bridge into a valley, send me the wrong way up one-way streets and tried to get me to drive into a farmyard or three.

On one memorable occasion I was on a long distance drive and got onto a newly opened stretch of motorway. Roger didn’t know about this improvement and thought I was merrily driving across fields. For some considerable distance it tied itself in knots pleading with me to head back to the old road. A few times I passed over an old existing road and Roger would breath a sigh of relief and direct me on this road to rejoin the old main road. I would ignore it and it would revert to panic mode again. It obviously considered I was a right eejit but with miraculous powers of navigating across fields.

Yesterday I was messing with my phone and it crossed my mind that a lot of people use their phones to navigate. Maybe I could try an application or two. I downloaded one.

Immediately I discovered two things that were very important but lacking in Roger. The first is that it’s very up to date. No more driving across fields?

The second and probably more important feature is that I can use Eircodes [the Irish equivalent to Post or Zip Codes] That will bring me unerringly to the door of my destination.

Apart from Eircodes it does have an additional benefit that if I don’t have an Eircode or a street address [Roger insists on a house number and street name] I can type in a business name or general location.

I tried it yesterday. I had to bring Penny to the vet. I typed in the surgery name. Not a bother – it recognised it immediately. It suggested three routes on the map so I tapped one and off we went. It worked flawlessly, though the American accent grated a bit and it had great fun pronouncing Irish names. On the return journey I [deliberately] ignored one of its instructions and took a slightly different route. Roger would have a fit whenever I did that and I would get a steam of abuse telling me to turn around. The new yoke didn’t turn a hair and instantly directed me on the road I had chosen.

It’s only one test journey but I am impressed. Now all I have to do is find a way of mounting my phone where I can see it [and where it doesn’t obstruct my view].

Another advantage is that I don’t have to update Roger any more. That involved hours of downloads and worst of all meant I had to leave the laptop running Windows to use the software.

I hate Windows.