Am I cursed? in The View from the Terrace

Hubby and I are sitting at home drinking coffee, eating a hastily made snack and feeling thoroughly disappointed - why? - because we should be enjoying ourselves at the wedding celebration this evening.

Everything had been planned and organised. Hubby went to the actual wedding ceremony this afternoon where his choir were singing during the service. We set off for the evening celebration in good time. It was on the other side of Hereford, so as we approached the city I turned on the sat nav to set our route. I put in the postcode and it said address not found. That couldn’t be right. I checked the invitation to see that I had the right postcode, yes that was right, then I tried again, address not found. I tried without the gap in the middle, still address not found. Oh well, I had looked up the venue on the invitation it was called Lyde Arundel and knew more or less where it was.

There are two main roads that go north out of Hereford and this was on a link road between the two. We drove north found the link road, the sign actually said Upper Lyde so we must be going in the right direction. We drove along a dark twisting country lane for about 2 miles and could find nothing resembling a venue. Eventually we came out on the other main road. Then I had the brilliant idea of searching for the nearest postcode that the sat nav recognised and found one only 2 letters different. We went there. It was a private house just along the other main road. I suggested we carry on and we saw a left turning. We pulled into it but could see nothing in the pitch black. I got out with a torch. The sign said The Wheatsheaf, not our venue then. I told Hubby and he wanted to go down the road anyway but I thought it looked private. He pointed out that there were several cars down there. I said it must be a pub so he turned around and we drove a bit further, eventually finding ourselves back in Hereford.

By now I needed the loo. I always do when I get stressed so we pulled in at a supermarket. It turned out Hubby needed it too. We both went in only to find they were locked! Could anything else go wrong tonight. Eventually we found the disabled one was open. Then I decided to ring Tony and have him check on the internet that I had the right postcode. I do have a smartphone but I don’t use it much so I pay as I go and have the internet disbled. I don’t really use it when I am out and I already have a sat nav, ha ha!

Tony checked and confirmed I had the right postcode then checked Google maps for directions. He told me to go back up the road we had been on before and turn opposite the golf course. I thought I must have missed the turn. We drove back, we could see no turn opposite the golf course apart from one into a farm with no signs at all, it couldn’t be that, so we took the next left turn which was the road we had been along before. We double checked but could find no venue, we even turned along a side road, no venue, we drove back along the main road, there was definitely no other road apart from the farm track. By then we were over an hour late so we came home very disappointed.

I have, of course, checked to see where we went wrong. It seems the farm track would have led us there but it was a private road, we should have approached from the other main road. So I checked to find where the entrance to the road from the other end was on Street View and it was the entrance we had turned into and then gone away because the name was wrong. I was totally confused so I checked the venue website and found it actually is The Wheatsheaf at Lyde Arundel but our invitation makes no mention of The Wheatsheaf. I am so annoyed. If only I had let Hubby go down that road, but he has a long history of taking me on wild goose chases and I was sure this was another one.

We have tried to console ourselves by putting up the Christmas tree that Hubby got yesterday. We have the lights and the star on it now and I will finish it tomorrow, but I was really looking forward to going to this wedding venue. I have never been to wedding apart from my own. I have been invited to 4 but always something prevented me, illness, a young baby and a long journey too much to cope with. Now it has happened again. I do hope that if Tony and Justeen eventually marry nothing will happen to prevent me getting there, I’m starting to feel almost cursed.

I did try to find out what might be wrong with our sat nav. I googled postcode address unknown. I didn’t get any answers but I did find a hilarious article that practically told our story -

The time my sat-nav tried to kill me

Well at least we are not alone, and I love the positive way she has turned her experience around.

Last updated December 17, 2017