'A--hole!!!'
For those of you who are fans of the movie A Fish Called Wanda, you will remember that is the cry that Otto, the dumb American "assassin" played by Kevin Kline, makes every time he drives down the right-hand side of a London street and nearly gets in an accident. On our first drive last Saturday, moving from Central London to Highgate, we did nothing like that (OK, once, but no harm no foul), but I have to say that it was a little more challenging than I had expected. (I've put off blogging on this to give it some emotional distance, but now seems like a good time.)
I am confident in my ability to do these three things:
1. Drive a stickshift
2. Drive in a city
3. If necessary, drive on the other side of the street
But throw in a stickshift operated by my left hand, and the near anarchy of the London streets created by a) near-incomprehensible intersections, b) constantly changing street names, c) the propensity of motorcyclists and scooters to zip by on the right, in between you and oncoming traffic or between you and the next lane, making you need to triple- and quadruple-check every single lane change, d) pedestrians taking serious chances with their lives, and e) the lack of direct routes, given the 2,000-year-old street plan of the city, and it was a couple of the most stressful hours of driving I've encountered.
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, this is a series of photos, more or less panoramic, that take in a typical Central London intersection:
(Yes, I know I came from Washington, DC. The difference here is that no single street runs straight north or south or straight east or west. Everything winds in no particular direction.)
This, too, is not an atypical directional sign in London:
(Please keep in mind that I was driving when I snapped that shot. No, never mind, forget I said that.)
Eventually, I'll have to get into a car again (we don't need to own one, but I'll undoubtedly be joining one of the car sharing clubs that are popular here), but with any luck, I won't be driving into the central business zone ever again.
I am confident in my ability to do these three things:
1. Drive a stickshift
2. Drive in a city
3. If necessary, drive on the other side of the street
But throw in a stickshift operated by my left hand, and the near anarchy of the London streets created by a) near-incomprehensible intersections, b) constantly changing street names, c) the propensity of motorcyclists and scooters to zip by on the right, in between you and oncoming traffic or between you and the next lane, making you need to triple- and quadruple-check every single lane change, d) pedestrians taking serious chances with their lives, and e) the lack of direct routes, given the 2,000-year-old street plan of the city, and it was a couple of the most stressful hours of driving I've encountered.
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, this is a series of photos, more or less panoramic, that take in a typical Central London intersection:
(Yes, I know I came from Washington, DC. The difference here is that no single street runs straight north or south or straight east or west. Everything winds in no particular direction.)
This, too, is not an atypical directional sign in London:
(Please keep in mind that I was driving when I snapped that shot. No, never mind, forget I said that.)
Eventually, I'll have to get into a car again (we don't need to own one, but I'll undoubtedly be joining one of the car sharing clubs that are popular here), but with any luck, I won't be driving into the central business zone ever again.
posted by Smitty Werbenmanjensen at 12:01 PM
3 Comments:
I don't see any pictures...
I think we all pay it.
No, you should not be driving in central London, especially not that part of London around Q Vic St (I noticed 1 Poultry in your series) unless you're a cab driver or insane.
Get some lessons, and practice outside the North Circular. While you've got a year's grace before you need to take the UK test, shelling out £100 on a handful of lessons will set your mind at ease.
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