[Idyllchat] Driving in the UK

[ZBerry at att.net]

Having driven in both Ireland and England and having also wandered on occasion into the right lane, I was concerned about driving again in England this past fall (after all, I'm older than I was last time I drove on the left!).  My traveling companion took an index card and made a large, very visible arrow on it.  When we picked up the rental car, we simply put it on the dashboard pointing to the left.  It didn't interfere with the view of the speedometer or other gauges.  That simple little tactic was amazing -- never once had a problem remembering to stay left and I think it also helped with remembering which side of the steering wheel different controls were on.  And we were driving stick -- both do that in our respective cars -- and still had no problem.  So, for anyone concerned about driving on the left (forget the stick vs. automatic thing), you might want to try the arrow trick.  It worked wonders for us!
Christine in Massachusetts

-------------- Original message from "David Wayland" <dfwayl at embarqmail.com>: -------------- 


My wife and I spent two weeks in Yorkshire last Spring and rented a KIA with automatic drive.  I drive a stick shift at home so the automatic was a real treat.  I figured I needed to keep things as simple as possible while I got used to the English roads.  Well,  after the first day or two, it wasn't so bad, except the rural roads were soooo narrow and the rock walls soooo close.  But what got me the most was remembering which side of the steering column the turn signal was on.  In England with the right hand drive, the turn signal is on the right, not the left as it is in America.  Well. my brain had a tough time buying that.  We'd suddenly get to a corner or a round-about where we had to turn, and I'd instinctively flip what I thought was the turn signal, only to suddenly find the windshield wiper and washer frantically swishing back and forth and me unable to see a darn thing through the windshield!  Meantime, my wife is yelling at me to watch out and I'm trying to turn everythi
ng off and make the turn.  I can't tell you how many times that happened before we were able to laugh at the confusion and panic.  I'm happy to say we returned the car without a scratch!  Was I ever relieved!  Good luck to those who are slow learners like I.   David 
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