"Hey, what joker moved the steering wheel?" |
I had everything planned so carefully for our first
trip to England. From the places we
would visit in London, to the driving directions to our timeshare condominium
in the Midlands, to everything we wanted to see in the seaside village of Rye,
we thought we had reduced, if not eliminated, all the uncertainties involved in
visiting a foreign country. So, after
arriving at Heathrow Airport, we battled through jetlag for two-and-a-half
days as we visited the places in London we most wished to see, wandering the world famous
city afoot, and aided by their bus and underground train systems. Then we rented a car and ventured onto the
roads of England.
According to Google Maps, our drive to the English Midlands
would take a few hours. As we could not
check in at our condo until late afternoon, we had planned a few interesting stops
along the way. The first was the village
of Pinner, where one of our favorite English sitcoms, May to December, was
set.
Our research had prepared us when it came to basic
navigation, such as what side of the road to drive on, and recognizing the
speed limit signs. It was the
roundabouts that tripped us up. Unlike
intersections, roundabouts presented us with a variety of perplexing options. Sometimes the road we needed, according to
our Google Map directions, might be painted on the asphalt of the particular
exit we needed to take. Or there might
be a sign that showed which turnoff we wanted.
But two, three, four, or more streets can adjoin the same roundabout,
and each of those intersecting streets separate before they join the roundabout,
so you have to be doubly careful when counting each potential turnoff.
When we came across simple intersections, we looked for street signs. Sometimes we spotted the street name on a sign
affixed to a fence at knee or waist level, but only after we were nearly
through the intersection. Or they were
placed along a building farther down the street, visible only after we had
passed through the intersection. Or they
simply weren’t there. Not that we found
many intersections. For the most part, we
encountered roundabouts. This was an
aspect of British life that had seemed so quaint and endearing when we were at
home, relaxing in our living room and enjoying our beloved TV shows. In real life, we found them anything but
relaxing.
Google Maps had estimated a fifteen-to-twenty minute drive
until we reached Pinner. After
half-an-hour, we realized that we had taken several wrong turns along the way,
and had no idea where we were. So we
attempted to reverse our course as best we could. But each roundabout is only a link in a
chain, and each link will only tell you how to get to the next one, most of
which weren’t listed in my driving instructions. On those rare occasions when we navigated our
way back through roundabouts we recognized, we still couldn’t figure out where
or how we had diverted from the printed instructions.
We had planned on a fun, picturesque drive. We had hoped to find several meaningful
locations where we could connect with the British TV shows we loved. Instead, after more than an hour, we were driving
in circles (literally), frustrated, exhausted, and utterly confused by an
onslaught of choices that didn’t correspond with the journey we had so carefully planned before leaving home. But life is never as hopeless as it seems,
and soon we would receive aid from a source we would never have anticipated.
Feeling lost in your journey right now? Stick to your course, and keep looking for a
source of help. Life might just surprise you.
Dragon Dave
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You obviously enjoy the cosier aspects of English TV, and if you haven't already found it then a series called "Murder Most English" will certainly appeal. Made in the 1970s it stars both Anton Rogers (May to December) and Christopher Timothy (James Herriot) as two coppers in a small Lincolnshire market town. The series is out on DVD here, but may be hard to find in the US as I don't believe it was ever repeated anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a few episodes of "Murder Most Horrid," but never heard of "Murder Most English" before now. It certainly sounds like something I'd enjoy. As I spent an enjoyable week in 2011 the Midlands, that's another factor in its favor. Most of all, I haven't seen enough of Anton Rodgers, and so I've put the series on my Amazon Wish List, and will wait impatiently for the holidays, and those all important gift cards to arrive. Thanks so much for suggesting it!
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