Let's Talk Driving

For the past 24 years, I have had my driver's license.  And, up until this point in my life, I haven't ever really questioned my ability to drive.  In the U.S., I would put on my seat belt, and everything seemed like it was second nature.  In Nigeria, I didn't drive there as we were required to have our driver, Fatai.  However, here, we are very much allowed to drive our own car.:)

We have a black Audi station wagon.  Yessiree...you read that right.  I drive a good old, National Lampoon's (ok, it's not that bad) station wagon.  I can hear my American friends laughing all the way from here.  But, this car is pretty common place over here.  As a matter of fact, Guy ended up putting a sticker in the window of the car just so that we would stop going and trying to unlock a car we thought was ours.  However thanks to the convenience of using bikes almost every day to go everywhere we need to go, we don't have to drive very often.  We filled the tank up in our car the middle of August, and we just had to fill it up yesterday ...it still had a quarter of a tank in it.  It does take about 80 euros ( about $90 U.S.)to fill the tank which is very reminiscent of the gas prices in the U.S. in 2008.  So, biking is a much more economical option.

However, there are times when driving is more preferrable.  Perhaps, maybe when you need to buy more groceries than a bike can hold and you have literally lost your balance a few times on your bike and fallen off?? ( Just saying..not that that has happened to me..insert eye wink), or if your daughter's piano and ballet lessons are 4.5 kilometers away and you just don't want to hear the complaining of your 8 year old all the way there...those are good times to take a car...

The picture below is a metaphor for how my kids feel when I get behind the wheel here in Holland...

Elizabeth literally belted the carton of eggs in the seat to keep them safe when I drove.:)

Yes, it seems that even though with 24 years of driving experience under my belt, my arm pits start wringing wet and I almost forget how to operate a manual transmission ( oops forgot to mention that part).  Let's just say that the first few times the kids got in the car with me they each made the Sign of the Cross without any prompting from me! ( Insert NO eye wink...I am completely serious on that one!)

In the picture below, you can see the red path crossing in front of me...that is the bike path...they are EVERYWHERE!  If you come to Holland, do NOT mistake them for a walking path...you WILL BE RUN OVER...or hopefully swerved around very quickly.  And don't just assume that a bike path is only for bicycles...they can be for motor scooters and small motor cycles as well.  Do you see those white triangles on the road?  If the triangles are pointing at you, that means you have to yield.  You also yield here to whoever is approaching from the right unless you are directed otherwise by the points on the triangles.  

And then you throw this biking sign in the mix....

Which means that the bikes can go any direction when the light for the bikes change including diagonally.  I know the picture doesn't show that, but that is what happens when the cycle light turns green. (You may remember that I mentioned in a previous post that bikes have their own light separate from the car stop lights). Just to let you know, the cyclists do not pay attention to where the cars are going....they expect that the car will see them...not the other way around.  And then you throw in all the one way roads and one ways in parking lots...

 Let's just say that for the first month we have been here, I thought I would need one of those neck wraps for people with whip lash.  Between the triangles pointing at me and the cyclists zooming around the car when I am trying to pull out onto a street looking both ways for traffic, minding the one way roads and trying not to hit a cyclist, and remembering how to drive a manual transmission....I felt like I had whiplash.:) It's a good thing that wine can work wonders on a sore neck!:)

I know it could always be worse...we could be in the UK or Australia and driving on the other side of the road as well!  I am not sure my 40 year old brain could handle all of that change at one time.:)

And in case you are wondering...the eggs did make it home safe and sound...but not without a few quick stops for cyclists who apparently have no "preservation of life" skills!!

Doei!