The Laughing Wolf: Playing Tourist Without Ever Leaving Home

January 19, 2005

Playing Tourist Without Ever Leaving Home

A source of much amusement whilst traveling in England and Europe are watching Americans deal with traffic circles. They can be a bit intimidating, but now you to can play clueless tourist without ever leaving home. At least here in northern Indiana, where there is a traffic circle not far from the new temporary lair. Have no idea why it is there, almost in the middle of nowhere, but there it is.

I have already watched a couple of people panic when hitting it, and have to admit I have laughed at them. It is fun to watch people hit it who have no idea it is there and have clearly never dealt with one before. The most fun I have had with it was during one of the recent storms, when it was covered with snow and ice and made for a fun and interesting ride. In fact, was tempted to go around it a few times building up speed just for grins, but sanity prevailed.

Yes, I am easily amused…

Posted by wolf1 at January 19, 2005 01:10 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Traffic circles are quite common in some parts of New England; they call 'em rotaries there. The secret to negotiating one is (to quote a guy I served with in Qatar) "just drive it (the car) like you stole it".

Posted by: Noble Eagle at January 19, 2005 09:15 PM

Yes, what a hoot! My hub and I encountered them for the first time on our first trip to England. Plus, we were driving a manual shift car so not only did you have to drive on the left side of the street, the shift was on the right side of the car! It was hilarious and we went around and around the circles many times before getting the hang of it. I'm sure the other drivers on the road did not find us as humerous!

Posted by: betsy at January 20, 2005 04:33 AM

I have one near my house - it's awesome in the Passat, it handles so well. (I won't reveal just how fast I can take the curve, lest anyone think me crazier than they already do...)
jan

Posted by: jlb at January 20, 2005 05:00 AM

LOL! I can't say anything about how I did the first time, or how fast I like to try to take them. Noble Eagle has it right on the best way to hit them, particularly in Europe. *G*

Posted by: Laughing Wolf at January 20, 2005 05:40 PM

We have a few roundabouts here in Nashvegas. Most are in the Bicentennial Mall, which sees little traffic most of the day (and that moving fairly slowly as it IS a park).

We do have one REAL traffic circle, at the north end of Music Row, where five and a half streets come together. (Five and a half? Well, one of the branches runs only a hundred feet or so to another intersection, where it feeds into two streets, one being two-way and the other one-way--you really need to see it to grasp just how wacked it is...).

The best part of it?

Well, there's actually TWO.

The pavement is designed to resemble a piano keyboard, with "white" keys spanning both inner and outer lanes, and the "black" keys denoting the inner lane.

The second best part?

In the middle, there's a large bronze sculpture called "Musica"--which consists of seven large NUDE, anatomically-correct, male & female figures dancing about.

Negotiate this roundabout successfully, and you can drive on ANY roundabout anywhere.

Posted by: English Werewolf at January 23, 2005 06:02 AM

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