Driving in England

*Disclaimer* This is MY initial experience with English drivers and dealing with the roads in England

Hello, again.

It has been a long time since I have posted anything, I've been busy working, packing, moving and unpacking.

I have officially moved to England to complete a graduate degree  at Oxford, and the majority of my posts will be about England.

I brought a lot of things with me to England, about 110 pounds of stuff. Mostly clothes, shoes, and some toiletries. My mother came with me to help me carry everything and we decided to rent a car. Now, that has been a ride in itself and we returned the car a week early.  We rented our car from AVIS at Heathrow, the employees were very helpful and advised us to get insurance. We, thankfully, decided to get the insurance because normally we opt out of the offer. The insurance covered the regular things, like scratches and if you break down on the side of the road.

The one thing that was shocking was the tire insurance.

Now, let me tell you - that is not if your tire pops on the side of the road.

Are you ready for this?

It is if your tires get stolen! Apparently, in the UK it is normal for people to jack the cars up and steal the tires. They cost 300 pounds a piece which equates to about 500 US.

After learning that we got in the car. Now, we are accustomed to driving on the left because of the Bahamas but we are not used to the wheel on the right side.

We eventually got to Oxford, it was smooth sailing until we got to my new home. My street is so narrow, that the cars park on either side and are on the side walk. A car can drive through as long as every car is on the side walk. This little yellow Fiat did not do that and was parking a foot out into the street. This car was full of dings and scratches, the person soon moved to another street with  more space. (S)he pissed off a lot of people.

The drivers in England are quite 'safe' and aware of their surroundings, I haven't seen a car accident yet. Although, they can be inconsiderate because they hit cars and drive off from the scene without so much as a note. One thing that upset me is that people cut in front of you on the road. In the U.S it is illegal to block an intersection or street, Here, if you stop to make sure you're not blocking, someone will cut you off and get into that space you were trying to not block. That was a little dosage of culture shock.

The main mode of student transportation in Oxford is bikes, because it is cheaper than buying a bus pass. I was accustomed to riding my bike around campus in Florida and I did consider buying a bike but the vehicles get too close to the cyclists but I haven't seen a casualty. Although, I'll stick with the buses, thank you very much.