Mike's Take at 1 Month

Just let me say – Wow – what a blessing and a great experience. The work is a challenge and the country and people are fabulous.   Jodi has been doing an excellent job keeping you posted on our many outings and humorous sightings so I won’t recount those, but I thought it would be worthwhile sharing my experiences that Jodi has not quite shared in yet – Driving. 


Paradigms:  After 57 years of programming, it takes a while to stop “reacting” to mirror images – yes in general we all get that there are challenges with "driving" on the wrong side of the road, but it goes much broader than that.  Getting used to driving from the right side of the car takes a while, and after a month it is getting easier, but very much still a forced activity – and in my head I keep chanting “stay left, stay left, stay left…”.  As this picture indicates, I am not alone in my struggles:

Driving on the “wrong” side of the road aside, here are some of the less obvious challenges:

Car Entry: Just getting into the car has its own challenges. First of all, our muscle memory gets set early, when we are young and flexible, on how to gracefully slide into the driver’s seat.  our left leg is used to supporting us as we slide our right leg in to the opening between the wheel and the seat, and then smoothly glide our butt into the seat (at least that is how I envision my entries). Getting in on the right side with a steering wheel in the way is still a very awkward maneuver . It is like trying to learn how to write with your other hand – very awkward and messy.  And as we get older, our bodies are not that interested in learning new contortion routines.  Sliding the left leg in and under the steering wheel is not as easy as it is with the right leg. I often find myself experimenting – rotate leg left, no, right, maybe - and sometimes I am even forced to back out and try again. Even started sliding the seat back on exit to give me more maneuvering room for the entry.  Have much work to do before I master the smooth James Bond entry.

Car Entry – part 2: Then there has been more than one occasion when I jump in "with grace and style" and my first thought is “where is the steering wheel”.  My recovery - make it look like I intended to get in on that side – so just in case someone is observing the foolish Yank (usually happens at the end of the work day when my brain is a little mushier than normal, and in a very populated parking lot) – I open the glove box, root around and make it look like I intended to get in on that side. Then satisfied I am ok, I nonchalantly get out, stroll around to the other side, get in and drive off swearing to never do that again……knowing I will.  One time I was so focused on getting in on the right side I grabbed the door handle, opened the door and jumped in – just to find myself staring at the back of the driver’s seat - no glove box to save me there ☹.  I just have to learn to laugh at myself more.

Shifting – While this is less impactful now that I have an automatic, it was very prominent with my rental, and to a lesser degree is still present with the automatic  because the shifter is center-console.  I am used to shifting with my right hand, so as I slip back into  automatic mode (read that as thoughtless driving) and suddenly realize that I need to shift, I do what I have always done.  The left and right feet do their automatic motions without error and then I slam the back of my right hand into the door handle as I try to find the shifter that is not there!  After a moment of spatial orientation confusion,  I regain my composure, find the shifter, and then fumble with trying to figure out what gear to put it in, because at this point  my previously-aspired sense of confidence has been completely dashed and I can’t even remember what gear I was in to start with, let alone what gear I want next.

Walking Down the Road: Just walking down the road can also give you mirror image shock. While I still have to think hard about looking right first, the part that gets me is when I see the car coming - my first instinct is to make eye contact with the “driver,” which in many cases is one or more of the following: a young child, someone reading a book, someone texting, a dog, or even an empty seat! The physical shock on my system is tangible – mentally and physically I get a shock, stiffen up, and for a moment I am in the fight or flight scenario where all I want to do is run – then a split second later I recover and realize that Scotland has not embraced driverless cars and that I just need to shift my gaze to the left.  I am then calmed, until the next car comes by and it is wash, rinse, repeat. Getting better, but deep down, there is still that momentary shock when I look to the wrong side of the car for the driver - gut level programming is not easy to overrride.

Collision Course Shock: With the roads as narrow as they are you would think people would not park on them – but they do.  The main road going to/from work is two lanes (think 1 ½ lanes) with curb on one or both sides and fencing or rock walls if there is no curb within a foot on the other side. My theory on the fence line design is to compensate for the lack of available grazing land and  allow the cows and sheep to be able to eat all of the way up to the road while still being restrained by the fence – obviously that is more important than giving drivers a median.  So, the challenge here is that several people park their cars on the road against the curb side – which leaves roughly 1/3 of the lane between the parked car and the middle lane marker.  On more than one occasion as I have been returning home and being blessed by the most beautiful view of the bay you can imagine, I have been shocked out of my senses when all of a sudden, a car pulls out around them, is fully in my lane, and is racing to squeeze back in before we collide – kind of like walking down the street and someone jumping out from a blind alley and yelling “Boo” – one starts to develop a tick driving around here! 

Scottish Reasoning: When we were in Inverness we had a taxi ride where we went down a lane similar to the one shown here with Jodi sucking it in, with cars parked on side of the lane (in contrast to a road which is much wider) – there was absolutely no room for two cars to pass – so to mention the obvious, I tried to confirm with the driver who was cruising at 30 mph that this was a one-way road – his answer was no. Then what do you do if a car is coming the other way?  His answer – one of you has to back up or find a parking spot to squeeze into to allow the other to pass. I think parking garages and “no parking” signs would be a much better solution.  Now for those of you who are thinking that a sign would not work, I have to say that the Scots are very polite and rule-conscious – so having a “no parking” sign might actually be very effective over here. Just saying.

Can’t wait to start my driving lessons so I can go take my test and get my official license – but I think I still need more seat time so I don’t look like an electric shock therapy patient in the driving seat!

Next post – Mike goes golfing!