autofahren
When I was younger, we had a swing in the backyard.
It was very slightly lopsided, falling about a centimetre to the right. This was small enough to not be noticeable - the only reason I know about it is because, whenever I sat on other swings, I'd feel like I was leaning to the left.
This is what driving on the wrong side of the road is like. A bit unbalanced. The car is suddenly really close on the left, and sticks out way too far on the right, and I can't quite figure out how to turn corners properly, or where I am on the road.
It's vaguely like being drunk.
Not entirely helped by the fact that German roads are not nearly as well set out as Australian roads.* They give you almost no warning about things that are about to happen, so I keep finding myself about a metre away from taking the wrong lane, with cars wondering why I didn't telepathically figure out the lanes before I got to them.
The one thing I will give them is the traffic lights. It's nice having the red turn to red-and-yellow just before it goes green, rather than trying to take you by surprise.
* No, this isn't just patriotism and being-used-to-it; their train system, for instance, is amazing. It's just the roads that suck.
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It was very slightly lopsided, falling about a centimetre to the right. This was small enough to not be noticeable - the only reason I know about it is because, whenever I sat on other swings, I'd feel like I was leaning to the left.
This is what driving on the wrong side of the road is like. A bit unbalanced. The car is suddenly really close on the left, and sticks out way too far on the right, and I can't quite figure out how to turn corners properly, or where I am on the road.
It's vaguely like being drunk.
Not entirely helped by the fact that German roads are not nearly as well set out as Australian roads.* They give you almost no warning about things that are about to happen, so I keep finding myself about a metre away from taking the wrong lane, with cars wondering why I didn't telepathically figure out the lanes before I got to them.
The one thing I will give them is the traffic lights. It's nice having the red turn to red-and-yellow just before it goes green, rather than trying to take you by surprise.
* No, this isn't just patriotism and being-used-to-it; their train system, for instance, is amazing. It's just the roads that suck.
The conversation's happening over at Dreamwidth. Feel free to comment there using OpenID. (
comments so far)