The Wrong Side of the Road

Driving through the English countryside has been an interesting experience, and I am not even behind the wheel.  I am just navigating for my brother, who is just focusing on staying on the right side of the road-I mean left.  The signage is better in England than it was in France, but it is far from perfect.  My favorite difference is that if a sign on the left side of the road points right, it actually describes something that is directly ahead.  That caused us all sorts of problems.  The roads all have both names and numbers, but they use them sporadically.  My phone only shows the names, my dad’s map uses the numbers, and the signs usually just display what the road leads to.

I was beginning to doubt that we would survive the trip, after a day or two in England, not from an accident, but from each other.  Things have calmed down a bit over the last few days, as we got more used to things.  (Things referring not so much to English roads as to “occasionally being lost”)  Unlike in France, I do not have a perfect track record for always leading us the right way.  Round-a-bouts and double round-a-bouts can be extremely confusing, and down-right dizzying if you miss your exit on the first pass.  The fact that my phones GPS frequently acts up or is delayed doesn’t help, especially with limited cell service in most rural areas.  It has taken some adjustment to get used to the reality that I am not "always right" in this environment.

I took a spin around the parking lot, but I am quite certain if I were to try driving on the public roads, I would land in the wrong lane at the end of every turn.  It will be interesting how unnatural the right side of the road will feel when I get back to the States next week.

On the flip side, I got a chance to ride in a Formula One car on the British Grand Prix track.  I didn't have to navigate, or worry about anything else for that matter, besides how to stay in my seat when we cornered.  It was a pretty exhilarating ride, blasting down the straight-aways at 150mph.  I am a bit more apprehensive about taking my turn at the wheel when we are back at the track on Monday.  Among other things, clutched manual transmissions are not my favorite thing, even with my dirt-bike, so that will be quite an experience.