… was that a Pheasant?
Driving in England is very different to the USA. There’s the opposite side of the road thing whilst the blinker is still on the left, there’s the unmarked speed limits where the other local traffic varies up to 30 mile an hour from each other (who do you copy the guy doing 60 or the grandma doing 90?), there’s the signage that is much less-than-clear at every junction and then there are the very narrow roads crawling with Pheasants. The Peasants kept to the side walks.
Actually I never did hit one. I managed to mount the gutter with quite a thump one time but that was all. Pheasants, however, are birds with a very small brain and a death wish. That I didn’t clean one up was not due to their desire to live another day. We now know why the hunters used to use beaters to make these stupid birds fly away. It wasn’t to get them to come out into the open it was to give them a sporting chance! They are everywhere in the Cotswolds and they are road kill around every bend in the road … which by the way, makes it very easy to collect their feathers for a nice hat.
Driving in the Cotswolds also explains why the British excel at motor racing. All roads are 1.5 cars wide, all run in both directions, are very windy and all of them are bounded by grass embankments and rock walls. This means that every corner is a blind corner and still this slows nobody down except the Lorries. How we didn’t manage to lose a side mirror or a body panel is only due to God’s kindness.
That said, when I wasn’t gripping the wheel white knuckled it was very pleasant to be driving in the lovely green countryside. Every hill and dale opens a new vista of gentle verdant green beauty. Quaint villages, bubbling streams, sweet meadows and green wonderful green as far as the eye can see. If you can survive the roads it is a lovely place to be.
Michael
Driving in England is very different to the USA. There’s the opposite side of the road thing whilst the blinker is still on the left, there’s the unmarked speed limits where the other local traffic varies up to 30 mile an hour from each other (who do you copy the guy doing 60 or the grandma doing 90?), there’s the signage that is much less-than-clear at every junction and then there are the very narrow roads crawling with Pheasants. The Peasants kept to the side walks.
Actually I never did hit one. I managed to mount the gutter with quite a thump one time but that was all. Pheasants, however, are birds with a very small brain and a death wish. That I didn’t clean one up was not due to their desire to live another day. We now know why the hunters used to use beaters to make these stupid birds fly away. It wasn’t to get them to come out into the open it was to give them a sporting chance! They are everywhere in the Cotswolds and they are road kill around every bend in the road … which by the way, makes it very easy to collect their feathers for a nice hat.
Driving in the Cotswolds also explains why the British excel at motor racing. All roads are 1.5 cars wide, all run in both directions, are very windy and all of them are bounded by grass embankments and rock walls. This means that every corner is a blind corner and still this slows nobody down except the Lorries. How we didn’t manage to lose a side mirror or a body panel is only due to God’s kindness.
That said, when I wasn’t gripping the wheel white knuckled it was very pleasant to be driving in the lovely green countryside. Every hill and dale opens a new vista of gentle verdant green beauty. Quaint villages, bubbling streams, sweet meadows and green wonderful green as far as the eye can see. If you can survive the roads it is a lovely place to be.
Michael
No comments:
Post a Comment