I was assuming travelling diagonally in Taxicab geometry and considered 4 potential starting points and 4 potential destinations (on every side of the src/dst block) and also that crossing a two-way street was forbidden or at least difficult when not on a crossroad.
I still don't understand, then. Isn't it easier to travel clockwise around city blocks than counterclockwise? Maybe you could give an example of a trip where going counterclockwise is easier?
Picture a circular road on a map. Let's say that my office is at twelve o'clock, my home is at five o'clock, and the post office is at three o'clock.
Now, suppose I have to leave work, pick up a document at home, and take it to the post office to mail it. I know it's faster to walk clockwise home, passing the post office, and then return to it with the letter. But my gut preference is to go counterclockwise, either because of an aversion to retracing my steps, or because that route just ... feels "cleaner" or more efficient somehow, or ... I can't articulate it any better than that.
Does anyone else share this intuition? Is it a manifestation of one or more known/studied effects?