04.16.03 | Driving, Pt. One

[The following entry about driving is a paraphrased excerpt from a much longer document I wrote detailing our trip to the area of Kent in southeastern England, which included visiting Canterbury, Dover, Hastings and Battle. I'm not including it here for reasons of length and the fact that I sent it out to many people back in April. If you'd like to see it, email me and I'll send you the Word doc. - BR]

My first time of extended driving occurred during our three-day trip to Kent. The plan was to pick up our rental car from a local Enterprise Rent-a-Car branch and then head east out of London. To get out of what is generally considered greater London, one must clear the M25, the city's ring motorway (highway).

In the morning of our departure, Jamie, an Enterprise employee, picked us up and drove us to the branch so we could fill out paperwork. Claudine had arranged for us to have what was considered the sportiest car in the Enterprise fleet -- a Vauxhall Astra SRi hatchback. (Ours had the 1.8-liter engine making 127 hp. Only later did I learn from Jamie that the branch also had a 200-hp Astra GSi Turbo. D'oh!).

After getting the car, we then had to navigate our way out of the city. This is no easy task when one hasn't ever driven in London before. The roadways defy logic. They change names every few blocks. Signs are rare. So are addresses on buildings. The streets, no doubt based on medieval ox cart tracks or something, weave left and right like they're drunk on more than a few pints of Guinness.

To see what we had to deal with, I have inserted an actual London road map below.

OK, it's not real. I drew it. But really, come to London and you'll see there is much factual basis here. (There's a suburb of London called Milton Keynes. It's an anomaly -- it's laid out on a grid -- and many Londoners don't like Milton just for that. Go figure.) << REWIND