Thursday, January 7, 2010

Driving on the "wrong" side of the road

Growing up in Canada, you never give much thought to how you drive. I always thought there were only two ways: the right side of the road, or the wrong side of the road. It turns out there is also the left side of the road. Unlike the rest of North America, Cayman decided to establish driving on the left side. Lucky us. Now hold that thought as I describe another unique phenomenon here.
One of the very first things we found out about Cayman is their love of round-abouts (a.k.a. traffic circle). No need for lights when you can put a round about at every intersection! Their round-abouts come in every size. There are three exit round abouts, four exit round abouts, round-abouts with decorative trees and advertisements in the middle and round abouts with seemingly no purpose. Soooo, combine the round-abouts with driving on the left side of the road (with our wheel on the left sided rental vehicle) and the constant swerving to miss the roosters, and you have one hell of a scary ride. Kind of like those black waterslides where you can't see which way you are turning. But today is a momentous one in my life, since I conquered the road this morning after taking Blake to work. I feel like I should be awarded some medal of bravery (I survived 3 rush hour round-abouts and came out unscathed) but there is noone here to celebrate with. I'm pretty certain the housekeeping wouldn't be all that impressed since they manage the same feat every morning but on a death-defying scooter. So I will just give myself a pat on the back and get back to trying to find us a car. I think we'll try for a right wheeled vehicle so I can master yet another new skill.

1 comment:

  1. Melinda says: I could not imagine driving on the left side of the road! Must be freaky indeed! Good for you. Did you have to drive downtown? Do you know where your going, or do you have to pull out the road maps...as even another challenge while driving. Maybe I should send you that Big "N" drivers magnet that we used in BC. then all the people would know that your 'New' hahah..or neurotic. Anyways keep adventuring!

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