It rained every day while here in Britain, except the day I flew out. Much of the time I had a hired car and was able to drive from place to place. I did notice a few things. The roads in the cities were often one way. In twisting and turning city centres this made it very difficult to get exactly where you wanted to go. Parking could be on either side of the road......you simply pulled across. So in some places every second car was facing the opposite way. Parking inspectors were very savage and made Australian parking inspectors look like Meter Maids. Traffic lights were similar but there was orange before green. However at an intersection there were never enough traffic lights, so if you didn't stop a little bit back then you often couldn't see it turn green. This was the same on the motorways. There were very few speed signs. Often I did not know what the speed was. I asked a police man about this in Edinburgh. He replied "its so we can get your money when you speed".
Using indicators might well have been optional because I rarely saw them used. What really struck me the most though was just how polite and helpful drivers were on the road. This struck me time and time again. Cars would stop or pull back to let you in, they would move over to make room for you. I didn't ever see selfish or annoying behaviour. There were some amusing signs. For instance the arrows painted on the road to tell you to get back on your side of the road, and signs which said "Oncoming traffic may be on your side of the road". My favourite was a sign on a section of roadworks which said "Expect delays until 15 May 2015"...a long time to sit there!
One idea I did like was on the motorways every exit was numbered. Where there might be several exits to a town the exit numbers made sure when you were following directions that you took the most convenient exit.
When I picked up the car at least the steering wheel was on the right side but the indicator and windscreen wipers were opposite to what I was used to. I was constantly turning on the wipers when I wanted to turn left or right. The first time I stopped to fill up with petrol I was in the petrol station and couldn't find the catch to get the petrol cap open. I searched everywhere, even tried to flick it open but no success. Finally I asked another driver. He couldn't find it either and suggested I drive down the road to the mechanic and ask him. This I did. It was a car sales place. The salesman said he knew where it was .....but when he looked it wasn't there. After 5 minutes of searching I finally twigged that the back door was locked. As soon as I unlocked it it was easy to press the petrol cap and it sprung open!
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| Note the exit number in the bottom left corner.....a great idea. |
