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The British are not about to put up with American lethargy behind the wheel, and have taken some serious steps to deal with it.
They have worked out that we are most likely to arrive via Heathrow, so that’s where they’ve constructed their strongest defenses.
The airport is ringed with complex layers of triple-lane roundabouts designed to filter out the timid and inept. It’s a kind of real-time driving test. The 15 per cent or so who pass, end up at their desired destinations. The rest are routed to places like Slough or Swindon and are forced to begin all over again.
The main defense uses diversion in a sly and crafty way. While you are learning the whole drive on the left, sit on the right, and shift with your left hand thing, they blast you with an overwhelming barrage of useless information on banks of complicated signage:
You may be looking for the A32, but that information will be nowhere on any of the signs which must be sorted as you decide on which of the three lanes to choose, while lorries cross in front of and behind you.
If you can keep a cool head while all about you are losing theirs, you won’t end up in Slough.
Eventually, whether you intended to or not, you will end up on one of the many motorways that ring London and Heathrow. This is the second level of defense. Speeds go up and the signs become more complex - with changing, lighted information. And there are now fewer driver options to correct mistakes:
After a half mile or so you are lured into a false sense of security, and then they throw this at you:
Similar to the previous sign, but now there is a Great Divide in the road. You must choose the tiger or the lady. Once the choice is made, there is no going back and your fate is sealed. This is how most people end up in Slough. This brilliant device lures you into thinking you can use the information on the sign to decide which path to take. But the sign is placed, of course, after you must make the crucial decision. It is there only to taunt you. If you weren’t quick enough to spot and decode the first sign, a mile back, you will be going to Slough.
The system is a stern schoolmaster, but effective. After a few days of this, you shape up or return the rental car and seek out a bus…, uh, I mean a coach tour for the rest of your stay. The sceptered isle set in a silver sea has fought off yet another foreign invasion.
And one final thing. Did you notice that funny little icon at the far right of the last two signs? Those little momsers seem to be everywhere and are crucial to your survival.
No, they don’t mean there’s a museum of antique photography equipment up ahead.
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