Driving in Scotland

Even if you do not pray before eating, you will pray each time you get behind the wheel in Scotland.
On a positive note, I have been driving over less curbs lately.

Driving on the opposite side of the road is the easiest part of driving in Scotland.

In Scotland they do not give you a road test.  To get your license you have to place in one of the major Grand Pris races.  I have been doing all the driving.  Nancy has been doing all the holding on for dear life, her knuckles are perma-white and her smile now has a slight tinge of panic.

Before Scotland the only thing I used my left hand for was picking my nose.  I barely have enough coordination to accomplish that task.  However, in Scotland I have to shift with my left hand.  It takes me half a minute to find the correct gear and by then I have buggers all over the stick shift.

Reverse is the same physical space as first gear, except you hold the knob down when getting into reverse.  In panic it is easy to accidentally push the shifter down while fumbling for first/reverse gear.

Every 20 feet there is a round about.  The round about kindly tells you the township a road heads towards.  Picture driving from Albany to Idaho.  Instead of seeing a road sign that says 90 west, you get a sign that says Amsterdam.  If you knew that Amsterdam was West you would have a fighting chance.  Now picture you are in a circle and there are 4 roads 3 of which will take you to a different part of Amsterdam  each round about option says Amsterdam.

If you are not in a round about do not expect a road sign.  It is the Scottish way to place road names on the second floor of corner buildings, but as this is not a rule of thumb there is no guarantee that you will know where you are. 

There are no roads that I would compare to thruways but there are roads that are 4 lane major highways.  These major highways allow you to reach cruising speed then unexpectedly add a round about to bring you back to reality.

Luckily however we did not drive on many of these major roads.  Instead we drove mostly on the one lane roads.  A one lane road is a perpetual game of chicken, you versus a mad Scotsman. He is driving full out waiting for you to pull off the road and let him squeeze through.  Then add to the ante, blind summits, blind curves and blinding rain, and the occasional sheep crossing the road.

Meanwhile there is an angry mad Scotsman behind you trying to pass.