Curiosity Over Pride (FYI: To comment, send an e-mail to scifidink@gmail.com)

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Driving on the Left Hand Side of the Road

You may have noticed a drop off in my usually frenetic Internet activity over the past few days.
As you can now see, no, I am not dead.
I have come back from 4 days in Albion, just over the Channel.

First comment on the temple merchants : the airport is obviously fringe culture number one, that no-man's land where all of a sudden people's bodies are ALMOST as immaterial as filthy lucre, and where you can just tell that for governments, for airline companies, for airport officials, it would just be so much EASIER if we had... like IMMATERIAL bodies.
The modern day airport has an unreal quality to it.
All of that nightmarish neon lighting.
Food which you can find all over the planet (almost).
People wandering aimlessly about (sometimes) killing time, looking at all that STUFF in the duty free boutiques. (Now, that's a biggee, WHY all the DUTY FREE STUFF ? Isn't this the inception of the off-shore/delocalizing business ? The airport, a country within the country where MONEY is the KING of it all...)
People WAITING. Shuffling around. Enough.
On the other side of the channel, I had rented a car. One of those numbers that you drive on the left hand side of the road in the U.K.
I think that this custom must harken back to Rule Brittania, if you see what I mean...
Summary : if the U.K. government really cared diddly shit about its population, and not about all that filthy lucre, it would not allow foreigners to rent cars, because it's just TOO TOO dangerous to drive the rental car out of the airport.
See my point ?
In the U.K., you can't drive a manual transmission car if you only have a license to drive an automatic transmission one, BUT, you can take a rental car out when you're from elsewhere ?
Gimme a break, temple merchants...

7 comments:

Thai said...

It would never occur to the British since the idea of driving further than the local fish and chips shop is about as far as they can conceptualize driving.

Ever ask a Brit how to get to Scotland from London? Their response suggests you have asked them the ending to one of the great Jules Verne adventures.

How can a foreigner get into trouble when they only drive 3 blocks like the rest of us?

Debra said...

You are so SNIDE, Thai.
I love the British. They are so NICE.
And, just for info the country is much more INTO green anything than the U.S. that I could light into you for the pot calling the kettle black...

Dink said...

"I have come back from 4 days in Albion"

For a while I thought you might have slipped off to your summer vacation early. I guess it was just a practice vacation to prepare for the big game.

Thai said...

Perhaps, but it is a fond tease- I am very fond of the British.
... Bryson has noted the same thing (listen to the brief humorous audio sample from his book Notes from a Small Island).

Debra said...

Well, O.K. if it's a BRYSON tease. Those are pretty good, and he has a viewpoint that encompasses both sides of the Atlantic..
Are you guys having problems posting with Blogger ?
It looks like things are starting to get a little SATURATED. Is it my imagination ?

SS said...

Think about making drunken driving illegal but allowing fatigued driving after 16 hours of workaholic activity on canary wharf or wall street destroying world finances! Sort of puts the anglo-saxon work ethic in perspective your dead whether the drunk hits you or the workaholic.

SS

Thai said...

Deb, we haven't heard from you much lately. I am assuming you have been on vacation but when you get back, check the main page of the blog and come join us.

Hope you are enjoying your summer

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