Training Wheels
One of the things I (Lara) was most nervous about with this move to the U.K. was driving. Everything is flipped; not only do you have to drive on the left side of the road, but the driver's seat is on the right side of the car, stick shift is on the left, the passing lane on the right, people merge from the left, roundabouts go clockwise, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Also important to note that speed limits are actual limits; if it says 40, you better not go over that (*crosses fingers that no speed cameras have sent us any tickets yet*).
Daniel has been driving us everywhere. We rented a car on the day we arrived; poor guy had to drive in the U.K. for the first time in a manual car after having slept a total of about an hour on the plane rides the night/day before. I lost count of how many times he stalled out that first day [editor's note: It wasn't *THAT* bad, and in my defense, the stick gave almost no feedback and the spring in the clutch was much more... forceful...than other cars I've driven!], but after getting 10 hours of sleep that night, he has driven like a champ ever since. I have never learned how to drive stick, so that's why he's been doing the driving (honestly, I was glad to have an excuse not to drive for a little longer).
But we needed cars and I was going to have to drive eventually anyway (we live in Daniel's patch, so it's a bit of a drive for me to get to my churches--a totally manageable distance, just further away), so the Saturday after we arrived we went to look at some used cars. Daniel found one online and our new neighbors across the street helped him find another one online. We had to drive to England to get there (the town of Wirral, 30 min away).
The first time I drove in the U.K. was when we test drove the first car. I was really anxious, but Daniel was in the passenger seat (on the left, remember), which helped. I chanted to myself "keep left, keep left, keep left" and pulled out of the car lot. And you know what? It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be! After 3 days of sitting in the passenger seat, my brain had already begun to adjust to the setup, and it didn't seem quite as scary as I thought it was going to be. The roundabout was a little nerve-wracking, but I made it through. The only problem I had was when I accidentally turned on the rear windshield wiper and couldn't figure out how to turn it off again. So for the last few minutes of the test drive the rear windshield wiper was making this horrible scratching noise and the sign on the windshield kept bobbing up and down. I'm sure it was quite comical to anyone watching :)
We made it back to the lot, told the guy we were going to look at the other car, and then (long story short), ended up buying both cars. In the U.K., you can't drive off the lot right away with used cars because they have to get the MOT (inspection) before you can take it. So we came home having essentially bought two cars but returning with only the car we came with. We picked up our cars on Wednesday and Friday of this week.
Because we'll be driving on so many country roads (that are only one lane), we were told not to invest in new cars but to buy "beater" cars (we'll be pulling over into the bushes to let other cars pass, so not worth it to get pristine cars).
Here's Daniel's Honda Civic hatchback that can be driven either stick or automatic.
And here's my Ford Fiesta! I'm calling him Steady Eddie (yes, like Eddie Redmayne, obvs). Isn't he cute?
A future post will have pictures of the road signs here. There are some pretty interesting ones! But that's enough for one night.
Also important to note that speed limits are actual limits; if it says 40, you better not go over that (*crosses fingers that no speed cameras have sent us any tickets yet*).
Daniel has been driving us everywhere. We rented a car on the day we arrived; poor guy had to drive in the U.K. for the first time in a manual car after having slept a total of about an hour on the plane rides the night/day before. I lost count of how many times he stalled out that first day [editor's note: It wasn't *THAT* bad, and in my defense, the stick gave almost no feedback and the spring in the clutch was much more... forceful...than other cars I've driven!], but after getting 10 hours of sleep that night, he has driven like a champ ever since. I have never learned how to drive stick, so that's why he's been doing the driving (honestly, I was glad to have an excuse not to drive for a little longer).
But we needed cars and I was going to have to drive eventually anyway (we live in Daniel's patch, so it's a bit of a drive for me to get to my churches--a totally manageable distance, just further away), so the Saturday after we arrived we went to look at some used cars. Daniel found one online and our new neighbors across the street helped him find another one online. We had to drive to England to get there (the town of Wirral, 30 min away).
The first time I drove in the U.K. was when we test drove the first car. I was really anxious, but Daniel was in the passenger seat (on the left, remember), which helped. I chanted to myself "keep left, keep left, keep left" and pulled out of the car lot. And you know what? It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be! After 3 days of sitting in the passenger seat, my brain had already begun to adjust to the setup, and it didn't seem quite as scary as I thought it was going to be. The roundabout was a little nerve-wracking, but I made it through. The only problem I had was when I accidentally turned on the rear windshield wiper and couldn't figure out how to turn it off again. So for the last few minutes of the test drive the rear windshield wiper was making this horrible scratching noise and the sign on the windshield kept bobbing up and down. I'm sure it was quite comical to anyone watching :)
We made it back to the lot, told the guy we were going to look at the other car, and then (long story short), ended up buying both cars. In the U.K., you can't drive off the lot right away with used cars because they have to get the MOT (inspection) before you can take it. So we came home having essentially bought two cars but returning with only the car we came with. We picked up our cars on Wednesday and Friday of this week.
Me right after having driven Daniel's car home.
See how relieved I am for having made it safely?
Because we'll be driving on so many country roads (that are only one lane), we were told not to invest in new cars but to buy "beater" cars (we'll be pulling over into the bushes to let other cars pass, so not worth it to get pristine cars).
Here's Daniel's Honda Civic hatchback that can be driven either stick or automatic.
And here's my Ford Fiesta! I'm calling him Steady Eddie (yes, like Eddie Redmayne, obvs). Isn't he cute?
Steering wheel on the right!
A future post will have pictures of the road signs here. There are some pretty interesting ones! But that's enough for one night.
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