If Your Not Right..

If you're not right, you must be wrong. For well over half my life I've been driving a car. The basic rules of the road are now a part of my nature. I'm at the point where I can dial my cell, read a book, even take a nap and get to work safely. Knowing where to look when merging, turning or weaving happens without thought.

...until today. I'm in the UK. I rented a car at Heathrow airport to drive up to Bury St Edmunds with my boss. Now we've been in London since yesterday. We've been riding in cabs and we got the whole experience watching someone drive on the left side of the road. It was actually a litte exciting the first time we looked outside the front windshield while taking a right turn, but after a full day of it, it seems to flow pretty normally. So we go get this car. A light blue 5-speed manual Peugeot. We collect our 'Tom Tom' from the lady behind the desk and walk out to the car.

First mistake. David never planned on driving and I had the key, but that didn't stop both of us from naturally walking up to the wrong sides of the car to get in. We just looked at each other over the roof, rolled our eyes at each other and traded sides.

Second thru Three hundred fifty seventh mistakes. Driving a stick in the UK. It's on the left side. I can't remember how many times I needed to down/up-shift and hit my right hand on the door. I've heard of this from a colleague who said he went for the door handle once. He wasn't exaggerating. It's queer as hell.

It took about 30 feet in the parking lot to lose all cockiness and realize this was going to take an amazing feat in concentration if I wanted to make it a couple hundred kilometers to Bury St. Edmunds. Thanks the LORD, it was mostly freeway. After awhile, we got a little hungry and wanted to exit at a place that advertised 'services'. This was another major event. The normal intersection on this side of the Atlantic Ocean seems to be 'roundabouts'. (Rotaries if you're from New England). They're all over the place, but here they go clockwise. The rules are the same, but be dang sure you know which way to look for oncoming traffic, or you will become 'foreign stuff smeared on the road'. At one point I think David's eyes were closed, but I can't blame him. Mine were too for a few hairy moments.

But, in the end, we made it to the hotel. The best practice I got was in this small English town where David thought he knew where the hotel was. Trying to take lefts and rights on his command while also trying to keep from having a head-on was a pretty good lesson on driving in the UK. My suggestion if you're ever going to do it. Get on the Internet and study the rules of the road up here. The signs, lights, rotaries and street markings are completely different than those back home. Also, get a rental with the maximum insurance. It gives you a small edge on the comfort side.

I'll be posting pictures of the London sites in the next couple days. Will be seeing 'Stonehenge' also before flying to Germany. Oh, which reminds me... Oktoberfest started last weekend. You might not ever see me again.

Sweet!

-Gary