Driving - check your brain at the door

YES, driving here is an interesting adventure! But the good news is, you do get somewhat accustomed to it. Besides the fact that you are on the other side of the car, the roads are narrower, there are no stoplights - only roundabouts, drivers will merge INTO you and road signs (if they exist) are cleverly hidden. The first driving experience does feel weird. You have to disregard many years of driving instincts and re-learn it.

Let's talk about some highlights, shall we??

First, let's talk about the cars.... here is our car. It is a Vauxhall something or other.

Here is me, in the driver's seat...

Then, there is the interior. Nice, except everything just looks all wrong.

Now, we move on to general driving. The roads here are narrow. I can't even exaggerate here, the picture speaks for itself.

Because the roads are so narrow, people have no choice but to park on the sidewalks. When there is not enough room on the sidewalk, cars will hang out into the street. It is the drivers job not to hit the parked cars, while also avoiding oncoming drivers.....

Here are a few pictures of cars suffering from "narrow road syndrome".

Yes, the 2nd picture is our car.

Highway driving is better, because all the lanes are going the same way. But still, it is weird to look up and see the car in front of you, with no one in what should be the drivers seat.

Let's talk about the roundabout.
The roundabout is very prevalent here, used instead of stoplights. You must be on the lookout for cars coming at you from basically everywhere. It is insane! Give me a good ol' stoplight. At least there is a definitive sign: GO or STOP.

Now, a "normal" roundabout looks and works like this:

But - just when you think you got the hang of the roundabout, you run into "The Magic".

This is the result of some road engineer having too much to drink and taking some grudge out on the public. There are only 2 or 3 that exist in the world, and lucky me, one is right here in the town of Hemel. Here is a depiction of the "Magic roundabout":

Here, there is one large roundabout surrounded by 6 smaller roundabouts. What???? Cars are literally going in all directions. Somehow, when we drove on this, we survived. We got off on the wrong exit, but we were alive :) We now avoid this intersection if at all possible.

So there you have it. This has really messed me up. I hope I do not go through this again when I get back in the states!!