Driving on the wrong side of the road

As a person with no sense of direction, even if I knew my way around, driving here scares me to death!!  The first thing I had to learn is to get in on the correct side of the car and shifting with my left hand is very strange. Believe me, it takes some serious brain re-wiring.  And just riding in the passenger seat is scary enough because it always feels like we are going to go off the side of the road.  Larry has been here since August so he has mastered driving and he knows where's he's going.  We are allowed to drive on our US driver's licenses for one year.  From what I heard, the whole process can take almost a year so it's best to start the application process as soon as possible.  First we get a provisional license, which requires we send our passports away for a month.  We'll apply for that when we get back in January.  We are also provided driving lessons and I will do that in January as well.  The average person fails the driving portion of the test (even the Brits) 3 times before passing.

I have been driving to the grocery store in Barton for a few weeks now. It's probably a 5 mile drive.  I take the back way to avoid as much traffic as I can.  The roads here are VERY narrow, 2-lane country roads, no shoulders.

I seriously think I should have a large, flashing sign on my car that says "American driving, stay back."

           I finally got comfortable and decided that I would go to the store through town.

 With my handwritten directions (because the GPS is a whole other story) in hand, I took off.  The main road is extremely busy and full of lorries (semi-trucks to us) and even farm equipment.  I have no idea what the speed limit is or how fast/slow I'm going.  It wouldn't matter if I did, as my eyes are glued to the road.  Can't look at the speedometer!  Can't take a hand off the wheel, whiteknuckling it all the way! I am going to have to change that as there are speed cameras everywhere.  So far no speeding ticket has come in the mail!  I was surprised to learn that distance is measured in mileage and speed in miles per hour.

In the villages, there are no traffic lights, just roundabouts.  Lots of roundabouts!  I have seen only a handful of stop signs.  The traffic lights have a nice feature I think the US should add. The light not only turns yellow right before it's going to turn red but also turns yellow before it's going to turn green.

The good thing is if I miss my exit out of the roundabout, I can just keep going in circles until I hit the target.  Adding to the excitement of the narrow streets, are cars parked in the driving lane (by the way, you can park going either direction!).

But I'm very impressed by how polite the other drivers are.  When it gets down to one lane because of a parked car, everyone waits their turn and there is almost always a wave as the other drivers go by.  And EVERYONE uses their blinkers!

Parking at the grocery store seems like it should be the easiest .  But I've noticed everyone usually pulls through to the parking space ahead.  I figured out why after several attempts of pulling in, reversing, pulling in, reversing again until I was almost within the parking lines.  It finally occurred to me that 1) that's why they pull forward, they can't do it right the first time either and 2) I'm sure the parking spaces were painted back when cars were much smaller, before SUVs were invented.

Yesterday was a REALLY big day!  I drove across the bridge to meet a friend for some shopping.

I had to get on the dual carriageway (our interstate) and even managed to pass a few cars.  Here, you only get in the inside lane to pass a car and then you get right back in the outside lane.  I love that rule!  I made it to the meeting spot with no problems, didn't get lost and didn't anger any other drivers.  On the way back home, I drove in complete darkness (something I said I would NEVER do) and rush hour traffic.  Feeling pretty darn proud of myself!