“Right, drive on the right side,” I reminded myself loudly when I was driving out of the airport in a rental car in Estonia last evening and then banged my left hand onto the door while trying to change the gear. Today I even managed to indicate to the left instead of right, although that doesn’t make any sense at all, unless.. (actually I would have an explanation, but I won’t confuse you with this at the moment).
It’s not that simple in Estonia just to give a quick glimpse at the traffic, then follow the other cars so you could stay on the correct side, because there just might not be other cars. When you travel outside of the towns you could easily find yourself on your own in the middle of the fields and forests, passing a few derelict houses, and very likely no human beings wondering around there either. So last night when I was trying not to nod off while driving with two children at the back seat (it wouldn’t have been that late drive if it wasn’t for the flight that was delayed because they had to replace the seats that had been broken on a previous journey.. all the questions arisen by this slightly out of place fact about how seats could get broken so badly during the flight, are advised to be sent to the well-known SleazyJet), but coming back to me trying not to fall asleep with my incredibly itchy and tired eyes in the middle of the forests (but still on the road as we do have proper roads in Estonia… I’ve been asked that question before, if we do..), anyway, last night at the end of my trip during the very last hour, I was honestly more worried about bumping into a moose that might suddenly cross the road, rather than driving on the wrong side and cause a collision with another vehicle. Because what vehicle? Ok, there were cars passing by… let’s say about five. Oh, and the truth is that I have been in an accident in Estonia with a moose before, but not crashed into another car. Luckily I was on a bus during the 'moose incident' and got away with a little fright caused by a sudden stop and then the excitement about exiting the bus by jumping out of its window as the door was out of order.
I admit I ran over a few frogs (I'm really sorry, animal lovers!) but missed couple of hares (thanks to their speedy movements) last night. I think in general I have become quite a cautious driver with age and definitely after having children (as this should make you a relatively responsible person), but hopefully I’m not over-cautious. I used to be a bit silly driver when I was young and wild (haha! this even makes me laugh calling myself wild.. Maybe wild in the sense that being used to going to the naturally wild places, for example blueberry forests or meadows where wild flowers grow), anyway I used to like to drive fast, so that once everyone in a car was worried that the boat attached onto the roof might fly off and couldn’t really snooze despite of being exhausted as hadn’t slept a wink the night before. Believe me I’m not proud of this and now I’m quite pleased with the situation as the cars have become safer and rules more strict, rather than closing the doors with aloud bang to make certain that it IS closed, or having the car packed with no-one-knows-how-many-people on top of each other (but that can be fun as much as starting a car with a little push down the hill by anyone but the driver… although that reminds me of another story… sorry, going off course again..), so I am happy it’s a norm that I fasten my seatbelt before driving and I can put the child-lock on to the kids’ doors, because four-lane motorways in England are a different matter to the roads in Estonia.
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| A wild forest child |
And additionally on the same note - to avoid any confusion which side to drive in Estonia, someone could write reminders on the roads for the drivers - keep to the right as their might be oncoming traffic from this side you’re at the moment, although this sentence might be a bit too long, especially if you tend to drive as fast as a young me. So maybe it should be kept short, like drive on the right side or just - stay right. As simple and well-thought as it’s in London when you are pedestrian and before crossing you can read on the ground whether to look left or right or both ways.
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