Driving In England

I thought I would add some of my travel notes here to keep them all together and entertain.

The first one is Called

Driving in England

Ok, forget that almost no-one over here drives an automatic so they are very hard to find to rent, and forget that they drive on the opposite side of the road from us (although that is probably not something you should forget!!) the size of the streets in England are a nightmare to negotiate.

I had to drive to work today because my normal ride is out for a few days and I thought it would be easier than taking the train several hours ahead of time... wow, I really think that the next time this happens, I will just get a B&B near the school and FORGET trying to negotiate British traffic.

I left for work early to get out of London before the traffic and that worked very well actually. The streets of Blackheath were mostly deserted (except the roundabout that never sleeps getting onto and off of the A2) but anyway I got on the A2 and got off at the proper place with no major incidents. I made it down about 4 NARROW country lanes through the Kent countryside (where the lanes are so small that one car has to pull up on the bank or wait in little off areas so that the oncoming car and go past) and got to school. shaken but alive. Then with the gracious permission of my assistant head teacher I was able to leave a little early from school in an attempt to beat rush hour traffic back in London. Just made it thank you Father God!! I only turned into oncoming traffic once and that was because it was someplace I had never been before and I reacted out of instinct to turn, however, I was able to park the car on the side of the street (facing the wrong way lol) until traffic had cleared enough for me to cross over to my "proper" lane and complete my trip.

That was the only slip up I made concerning driving in the opposite side of the road, but I have to admit the whole set up in the car is very very difficult to manage. Much more than I would have thought, but just checking the rearview is difficult, because you are used to looking to the right, not to the left, the gearshift (even though it was an automatic) is to the left, everything is on the "wrong" side of the car and feels very off balance. Although I will note when I said driving on the wrong side of the road I was laughingly corrected by my coworkers who reminded me that they have been using roads much longer than we have, I reminded them, that may be so, but America built the cars lol. Anyway, it is very disconcerting to say the least.

Now, add to that, the fact that the city streets are lined with parked cars which are half in the road and half on the curb leaving barely enough room for two cars to pass each other with about 2 to 4 inches to spare for side view mirrors on either side (I AM NOT EXAJERATING) promise. THEN you have the tiny English country lanes that were originally never intended for the amount of traffic they now get and literally can allow only 1 car at a time so, you periodically have to pull over to the side either up onto the bank (you have about 8 inches to use on the banks before you would tear off your side view mirrors with fences) or pull into driveway areas for other cars to pass in turns. And HEAVEN FORBID one of the freaking lorries should decide to travel down one of these lanes (and yes I have seen several - one was a lost Italian lol). They practically shut down the lane until they are through often requiring the cars to back up until they can find a driveway etc... So, I made it out of London, down the A2, and through the country lanes to work.

Of course, then I had to do it all in reverse during a much busier time of the day. Made if back through the lanes, back down the A2 (remembered to stay in the correct lane for the Kidbrook crazy intersection in the middle of a interstate, and got back to London. Where I got in the wrong lane for the off roundabout - sigh, but only got honked at once, (I consider that a victory - the lady I ride with gets honked at several times a week so I figure I am in fairly good driving company). Then made my fo pah into the wrong lane and eventually got home (where to add insult to injury, I had to parallel park and the tires have to scrub the curb for the car to fit in the space provided.
London, phenomenal cosmic powers, Itty bitty living space!! This is my t-shirt idea!!!
Anyway, I did it, and made it back to tell the tail. Now I only have to do it again tomorrow and I will find alternative arrangements for getting to work if I ever have to find a way in again! I SWEAR!! :)
Becki

All I can say, which of course is all I can say at any time lol, is that there is a GOD and He LOVESSSSSSS me!"!! :D