So I finally got the nerve to buy a used car and try driving around London. I thought a year of using pedestrian crossings painted with "Look Left (you idiot)" and "Look Right (you moron)" was enough training and conditioning for me to handle the whole driving-on-the-other-side-of-the-street thing. And you know what? It was. Right-hand steering is not as hard to get used to as I thought (although when getting in I sometimes still walk up to the passenger's side of the car; I just tell the LLDD-Hyphen-L I'm being a gentleman opening her door; she has yet to buy it).
You know what is fracking hard? Goddam roundabouts!! And goddam right turns!! I swear on Clark Griswold, I've gone miles out of my way because I can't properly time my lane crossovers without the help of stoplights. (made harder by the tears in my eyes from all the stressed-out crying)
Baby steps, baby steps. I am getting some experience under my belt making short trips around the neighborhood, going to grocery stores, and even travelling to the Embassy in central London on occasion. I even mustered enough courage to plan a trip with the LLDD-Hyphen-L to the beautiful English outlet stores countryside last weekend. When I woke up that morning, I went to the mirror, slapped myself in the face a few times, yelled "It's go time, fool!!", dressed with the same sense of purpose as a Rambo-gearing-up scene, stomped downstairs, kicked open the front door, and faced. . .
awwww...nag i-snow. That means the roads are all slippery, right? There's no sense in driving now...or until the end of winter next year, is there? No roundabout no cry, momma used to always say.
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