Driving Lessons: Prolog

The last couple of days I have been getting a ride home from work with a good friend of mine who is also an Ex-Pat, and a big topic of conversation is how amazingly different the driving experience is here in Ireland.  My experience driving in the States is mostly suburban, with some occasional city driving across the Midwest. His is mostly east coast, and specifically New York City.  As different as those two are to most Americans, Ireland is another story entirely.  Driving here is as different from both as as they are from each other.

These discussions started me thinking that an interesting topic for this blog would be about how different the driving experience is here in Ireland versus the driving experience in the States. Once I started thinking about it though, I realized that in order to do it properly would probably take a month or more to write, and I would still probably leave half of it out.

Since I am just starting this blog experience, a post which takes a month to compose is more than likely going to stop this project in it's tracks, so instead I hatched this idea of making 'Driving Lessons' a semi-regular feature of the blog where I can write about bits and pieces based on whatever I encounter on the road whether it is walking, driving or riding the bus.  (Had I come up with this idea sooner, my Bus Eireann post would probably have come under this heading.)

I have started on the first entry, which is ironically about life without any driving at all.  The move to Ireland marked the first time in my adult life that I did not have a motor-vehicle and I think that transition in and of itself was one of the strangest things about moving here.

So watch this space for more 'Driving Lessons'.  If anyone has any suggestions for either posts related to this topic or other topics where you think it would be interesting to compare and contrast life in Ireland and life in the Midwest let me know.