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You know they drive on the wrong side of the road there

You know they drive on the wrong side of the road there

Written by Andrea Silvers, The Shorthorn staff

Thursday, 04 February 2010 02:49 PM

Trip Breakdown

Date of Arrival: December 26, 2010

Current Date: January 4, 2010

“You know they drive on the wrong side of the road there.”

I can’t even count the number of people that mentioned this to me before I came over to London.

While I’m not driving, and certainly don’t plan to, it does present a small problem when trying to cross the road.

But London seems to know that I’m usually going to look right first.

Navigation here can be a a bit tricky. It's a little like playing sidewalk chicken (The Shorthorn: Andrea Silvers)

In fact, they’ve taken the time to print on almost every street I’ve seen which way I’m supposed to be looking.

For someone who’s not used to using her bipedal mode of transportation very often I find it incredibly helpful. The problem London didn’t seem to have thought of in advance?

Which side of the street I’m supposed to move to when I find myself playing a game of sidewalk chicken with a fellow pedestrian. I have a tendency to step to the right, unfortunately the Brit across from me has a tendency to step left.

For those of you that can picture the mirror image action that just occurred here you realize we both stepped in the same direction, usually resulting in a collision.

Score Count

London 13—Andrea 0

Most of the time the person I’ve just slammed into (I’m usually in a hurry so I’m walking at quite a clip) looks at me in total shock.

”Omigod I’m so sorry.” I say, usually reaching out to steady their shoulders as I do so.

This is when the look changes from shock to something I personally interpret as: “Of course you’re an American.”

Welcome to London?

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