I tried driving today. You ask, "What do you mean try? Don’t you drive in America?" Yes, I do. But in NZ they drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car.
I was going out for dinner that night and had to drive myself there, so I wanted to practice before it got dark. I was a little nervous because the first thing I did was walk to the wrong side of the van. It was only when I opened the door and went to get in that I noticed something missing. Opps... the steering wheel wasn’t there. Then it hit me. "You silly-billy! You’re on the wrong side of the car." Mrs. Bisley was laughing her head off as she watched me out the kitchen window.
Thankfully, once I got going, it all came flooding back to me. I have yet to pull out onto the wrong side of the road. Once I’m in the street, it feels natural to be on the left side. I have even gotten the hang of the roundabouts again. I had forgotten how many "give way" intersections there are. In fact, I keep looking for stop signs and have only seen three in our whole town so far.
The other thing that I keep doing is hitting the window wipers instead of the indicators. They switched the levers around. And the driving stick is also on the wrong side. There have been many times when I have gone to put the car in reverse, and my hand has come up empty on the right side if the steering wheel. It is amazing how some things are such habit.
On my practice drive, I went out into the country, so I wouldn’t scare any of the towns folk. Below are some of the pictures I stopped to take.
I was going out for dinner that night and had to drive myself there, so I wanted to practice before it got dark. I was a little nervous because the first thing I did was walk to the wrong side of the van. It was only when I opened the door and went to get in that I noticed something missing. Opps... the steering wheel wasn’t there. Then it hit me. "You silly-billy! You’re on the wrong side of the car." Mrs. Bisley was laughing her head off as she watched me out the kitchen window.
Thankfully, once I got going, it all came flooding back to me. I have yet to pull out onto the wrong side of the road. Once I’m in the street, it feels natural to be on the left side. I have even gotten the hang of the roundabouts again. I had forgotten how many "give way" intersections there are. In fact, I keep looking for stop signs and have only seen three in our whole town so far.
The other thing that I keep doing is hitting the window wipers instead of the indicators. They switched the levers around. And the driving stick is also on the wrong side. There have been many times when I have gone to put the car in reverse, and my hand has come up empty on the right side if the steering wheel. It is amazing how some things are such habit.
On my practice drive, I went out into the country, so I wouldn’t scare any of the towns folk. Below are some of the pictures I stopped to take.
Te Mata Peak (The Sleeping Giant)
Sheep
More Sheep
Sunset
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