Name: Preitenegg
Age: At least 800 years old.
Appearance: Carinthian.
Full of noble fellows embodying the highest standards of amateur sportsmanship? Eh? No.
Full of buildings subscribing to the most ornate of the classical orders of architecture, characterised by flared capitals with rows of acanthus leaves? What? Oh, I see – no, not Corinthian. Carinthian.
Oh. What’s that then? Preitenegg is a small village of about 1,000 inhabitants in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It’s nestled in a very mountainous region of the upper Lavant Valley on the slopes of the Packalpe and the Koralpe.
Picturesque, sort of gingerbready, Sound of Music-y type place? If you squint a bit, yes.
Gasp! Are they remaking the Sound of Music? Is that why it’s in the news? I can see it now – Adele as Maria, David Tennant as the Captain, Peter Capaldi as the Germans, Cheryl Cole as Liesl and a special series of Britain’s Got Talent to find the rest of the Von Trapps. Alas, no. It’s because satnavs made by Garmin keep reporting traffic incidents in the town, and suggesting alternative routes to get there. Even if they’re on the M20 in England.
That will soon make it less picturesque. So far, no one has actually gone. Most people being sent to an alpine village in Austria, when they are just trying to get to work and back somewhere in the UK, have twigged that there is a glitch in the system and refused to follow instructions.
That is evidence of an independent intelligence persisting in humans that a plethora of stories about people driving across fields, down cul-de-sacs and into rivers because the robot voice told them to had almost destroyed. Although I would almost have liked drivers to turn up in Austria and claim they were only obeying orders. Shush, now. That was a long time ago.
I presume Garmin are trying to fix the problem. They are, although given that reports of it have been coming in since July, you have to wonder how hard. But now they say it will be resolved with the next map update. Preitenegg can rest easy once again.
Until the Nazi hunters’ next sweep. I told you – shush. All a long time ago.
Do say: “The hills are alive with the sound of bewildered commuters.”
Don’t say: “Achtung, Fritz!”
