Tag: Zoom’s Motoring Guide

Welcome back to Zoom’s Motoring Guide!  It seems that in England there are four kinds of roads- M roads (Interstates), A Roads (two lane roads), B Roads (1 1/2 lane roads), and Single Lane Access Roads (3/4 lane roads).  Where we are (and the way our GPS takes us) we end up on B or Single Lane roads.  Consider the simple country road in the United States, usually two lanes and it goes straight to the horizon.  Once or twice a year you have to worry about the crops getting too high.  Here it seems that almost every road I drive on is surrounded by thick hedges that seem to tower over the car and has numerous turns.  Lots of fun, if there weren’t any other cars on the road.  You can’t see around corners and since you are driving on the left hand side of the road, the passenger is the one who is hanging on for dear life when another car (or worse a lorry) comes around a bend.  Oh, one thing I didn’t put in the comic but is important for those US drivers, in this area of England there are few (if any) shoulders.  The edge of the road ends in either a curb (in town) or hedge.  I was wondering why they were very clear on damage to the sidewalls and wheels when I rented our MINI.  I’m getting used to it, but I have been doing a lot of the driving- When Sue drives (and she is a great driver) I’m doing my best to bite my tongue.

Yes, I did know all of that before leaving… I have been cursing Charles Dodson for the whole “Looking Glass” bit every time I turn into the wrong lane.  I have gotten better over three weeks of driving.  It is a change- all the simple things I have done while driving for more years than I care to say all need to be relearned backwards.  25% of all MINIs are made right hand drive so it is a skill you don’t really need except in a few places.  I’m just wishing for my simple 4-speed classic, 6-speeds is still a little too confusing for me.