Right-hand drive is hard to get right.
, I pulled onto an empty country lane and started cruising in the right lane. My passenger calmly reminded me, "They drive on the left here." Apparently unconvinced, I kept finding myself on the wrong side all day.
Manuals are even harder. My left arm hates shifting. Muscle memory is key to driving a manual. The problem is that my left hand's last memory is of wearing a Rawlings infielder's mitt in high school. Pulling Lefty off the bench and asking for a one-two shift is met with the same enthusiasm as asking him to transcribe Finnegans Wake with a bad case of Saturday night palsy.
Man, that right mirror is close, and the rearview is over there. Goodbye, spatial awareness. I would pull over and breathe into a paper bag, but I can't remember which side the shoulder is on. When simple stuff requires a lot of concentration, there's less brain to pay attention to the harder things, like remembering which side has the steering wheel. Once in, I can't adjust to having all that car to my left. Placing the left wheels requires a surgeon's focus, and I'm on the sidewalk. In England, right turns are more like our lefts. Lefts are rights. My brain does backflips. Let's all sing the alphabet song backward: "Z, Y . . .
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Editor's letter: 2030 ban delay is sadly no surpriseFive-year ban delay means UK can no longer call itself a climate change champion
Read more »
Editor's letter: 2030 ban delay is sadly no surpriseFive-year ban delay means UK can no longer call itself a climate change champion
Read more »
Aiming for a smile and hoping for peaceful discussion: Letter from the EditorWe announced Friday at the Kindland annual summit that we have formed a partnership, to produce stories about individual acts of kindness. Reporter Pete Chakarian will handle the stories, which will appear once a week.
Read more »
'The Batman Below': Batman's Ultimate Dark Opposite Finally Gets a CodenameThe Batman Below is finally named.
Read more »
Star Wars' New 'Three Revelations' Are the Opposite of Asimov's Three Laws of RoboticsStar Wars' new droids go against Asimov's Laws of Robotics
Read more »
Post-Bruen and Post-Roe, Fear is the Opposite of FreedomText and history—and life-and-death—post Dobbs and Bruen
Read more »