Driving on the right side of the road

Last week I went to England for a "business" trip: hanging out at local wool shops to promote the knitting workshop in Todi that is coming up in May. Rough job, but someone had to do it.

It was very interesting driving in England. I was actually driving a Fiat 500, but one that was rather newer than my sweet thing back in Todi (and by comparison, yes, it IS enormous). One thing I found extremely odd, though, was the practice in deciding speed limits.

In our area here in Italy, typical country road speed limits are 50 km/hr...yes, that's 30 miles an hour, folks. As you go through towns, the limit can easily drop to 30. And traffic? Not nonexistent, but certainly sparse. The roads are often ridge roads, meaning pretty good visibility...occasional blind curves, but you do feel as though you've got a good idea of what's coming around the bend. Do people obey the speed limits? Not hugely, but the backroad speeds really aren't ridiculous. Of course, HUGE potholes do help enforce the speed limits to a fairly significant degree, and they do have cameras (which mostly don't work, but enough do that you try to avoid getting a love letter from the police).

I was visiting rural(ish) England, which means countryside, villages, and some larger towns. The roads tended to be very windy and narrow, and surrounded by either trees or hedgerows, meaning NO visibility...AND the requirement to pull to the side if a car came the other direction. People tend to drive larger vehicles (Range Rovers), adding to the experience. And the best part? You've heard narrow, curvy, and no visibility? Add into that last mix a speed limit of (I'm NOT KIDDING) 60 miles an hour. Hair-raising, for sure. But then there was that one road...limited access...no sidewalk...divided...with a speed limit of 40 miles an hour. Very strange.

I made it back to the Perugia airport, and happily putt-putt-putted all the way home.

Love,

Alexandra