Warp speed

I look at the map of where I live ..the one inside my head. It’s warped. The angles are skewed and the distances are shortened. I can nail the directions to the County Bowl OK ..but the other side of town is a different story. This distorted image is like an icon that gives me an immediate sense of where I am and where I want to be. And it does a fairly good job. Consider the map of the London Tube you get at any station. It’s more like a schematic diagram than an actual view. Still it’s become an indispensable icon. In fact, I bet it comes closer to the one that’s inside just about every Londoner’s head these days. I ask for the closest Underground station and get a GPS-like reading. Mention Camden Town ..forget it.