Driving Miss Lucy

No, not this:*


This:


I've joined Streetcar, a car-sharing club in London, which gave me a second go at driving in London. We needed to go (where else?) to the Ikea as we get our flat in shape for some very important visitors in the coming weeks. The nearest car is parked near the Archway Tube stop. It's a black VW Golf, codenamed Lucy.

The second attempt at driving went a little more smoothly than the first. The car did have a stick, and upon pulling out of its designated parking spot I did go to the right, rather than the left, of an oncoming car, but other than that I made no mistakes--perhaps it was because we weren't driving in Central London, or perhaps it was because I never had to try a right hand turn from a full on stop with the stickshift on a 10 percent uphill grade, or perhaps it was because plenty of bicycle riding has trained me to British road etiquette. In addition, we were on some major thoroughfares up to the North Circular Road, a sort of Inner Beltway for London, so it was harder to make wrong turns.

I'm in no hurry to buy a car, but I think I will drive with greater confidence in the future.

*This being our beloved calico Lucy, who is now in a happy new home in Chicago.