D is for Driving

One might think that, after driving for 14+ years, you'd have it all down.  But nope. Nope nope nope.  Absolutely not.

Driving on the left-hand side of the road was one of the most stressful parts of moving to the UK.  All of a sudden, after having driven for so long, you have to pay attention to everything, just like a beginner driver.  It was exhausting.  You crawl along for the first few weeks, freaking out at the small farm roads hardly wide enough for two vehicles to fit side-by-side (and sometimes not even that) with the national speed limit (60 freaking miles per hour!) and breathing a sigh of relief when you get on the motorways or the larger A roads where you don't feel like you're taking your life into your hands.  As much.  But you can't not go out; the more you drive, the better you get at it.

How to roundabout. Thanks, Internet!

Roundabouts, though...awesome. Really! They're efficient at managing traffic, and, once you have the hang of them, easy to maneuver around if you bother to follow the rules and signage.

For me, it took a solid six months before I was comfortable driving on the left-hand side, though there were definitely days were my brain wanted to question everything I did.

I'd compare being comfortable on the left-hand side to when you put a shirt on backwards--it's wearable, but it doesn't feel quite right.  Driving on the continent was soothing, though...it felt so natural after being on the left.

Driving a British car--though there was more thinking involved and a lot of times when I'd whack my hand on the door when I went to go shift--was much easier than I'd thought it would be.

I weirdly miss driving on the other side now, and occasionally I'll catch myself thinking I need to turn on the other side of a car, or into the other entrance to a road.  But it's all good so far!

Drive on over (haha) tomorrow to see what I have in store for E. Here's a hint...it's a twofer, but one of my Es sounds like another letter...

xoxo Sarah