Cowbright: Getting up to speed...

One of the nice things about where we are is that we don't absolutely HAVE to have a car to get around and explore. Stow is small enough that we can walk to either of the 2 grocery stores in town and we're about a 5 minute walk from the Town Center. We (more correctly, Ronnie) have been getting the hang of reading bus schedules (shed-ules, as the English pronounce it) to go from Stow to explore surrounding villages. However, public transportation does have its limitations.

2 hours of instruction - 50 pounds

watch out for this car!

For example, next weekend Ronnie is going to participate in a triathlon in Cirencester, about an hours drive by bus (34 minutes by car) from Stow. He has to leave the apartment at 4:30 a.m. and the cheapest cab fare is 100 pounds (approx $170 US). He had already been thinking of renting a car here so getting to Cirencester this weekend helped him go ahead and pull the trigger. Riding his bike around the countryside this past couple of weeks has helped him get a feel for what the roads are like. He thought it might be a good idea to take a 2 hour driving course, since everything is opposite to us and I totally agreed. At least everything seems backwards to us; however, the English say they drive on the "proper" side of the road and we're the ones who are backwards!

You might know that it would be raining this morning. But I'm proud to say that he did just great! All the biking he's been doing has helped but of course there are still lots of rules to learn. Also, the English use so many expressions that are foreign to us as Americans. Some are pretty easy to figure out, like "give way" which means to "yield." Others are not as easy to figure out.

I'm letting myself off the hook, figuring that one driver in the family (over here) is enough!