And the Similarities keep on Rolling
OK so I start my new job on Monday, with has meant my boredom has reached new heights this week as 5 weeks without working & the unexpected expense of the petrol filter and emergency accommodation has made moneys a little tight. Still I had expected this & planned accordingly.
I’ve decided to ration the museums & galleries of Cork as there are only 4 of them and I plan to stay here at least 10 months. So yesterday to relieve the boredom I decided to drive out to where my new job is based, Mallow 26km out of Cork.
I’ll be based in Cork but imagine I’ll have to pop out to head office every now and then. On the way out it struck me that I really am living in the other New Zealand & more precisely Hamilton NZ. The road to Mallow is almost identical to the road between Hamilton & the quaint wee town of Cambridge, and guess what? Yip Mallow is about the same size as Cambridge, complete with river running through the middle of it & a big ass church (To be honest that’s about all I remember of Cambridge…No offence meant to family & friends from there)
The driving in Ireland is definitely more Kiwi than English as well, with the rule being to use the right hand lane as much as possible as opposed to only for overtaking. Also the ‘Zipper’ procedure for merging traffic is again something to be laughed at & ridiculed. Although one difference in driving styles happened on the way back to Cork, I was the seventh of seven cars following a lorry travelling at 80km. We came up to a short passing lane where I assumed maybe four or five cars may get past the lorry so hadn’t even bothered changing down a gear (It’s not like I had anywhere in particular to be) what shocked me was at the end of the passing lane I was still 7 of 7! They all seemed quite content trundling along at 80km…This was rectified at the next available passing lane.
OK, Chris arrives tomorrow so I’ll finally try out Cork’s night life…Game on!
I’ve decided to ration the museums & galleries of Cork as there are only 4 of them and I plan to stay here at least 10 months. So yesterday to relieve the boredom I decided to drive out to where my new job is based, Mallow 26km out of Cork.
I’ll be based in Cork but imagine I’ll have to pop out to head office every now and then. On the way out it struck me that I really am living in the other New Zealand & more precisely Hamilton NZ. The road to Mallow is almost identical to the road between Hamilton & the quaint wee town of Cambridge, and guess what? Yip Mallow is about the same size as Cambridge, complete with river running through the middle of it & a big ass church (To be honest that’s about all I remember of Cambridge…No offence meant to family & friends from there)
The driving in Ireland is definitely more Kiwi than English as well, with the rule being to use the right hand lane as much as possible as opposed to only for overtaking. Also the ‘Zipper’ procedure for merging traffic is again something to be laughed at & ridiculed. Although one difference in driving styles happened on the way back to Cork, I was the seventh of seven cars following a lorry travelling at 80km. We came up to a short passing lane where I assumed maybe four or five cars may get past the lorry so hadn’t even bothered changing down a gear (It’s not like I had anywhere in particular to be) what shocked me was at the end of the passing lane I was still 7 of 7! They all seemed quite content trundling along at 80km…This was rectified at the next available passing lane.
OK, Chris arrives tomorrow so I’ll finally try out Cork’s night life…Game on!
posted by Rodis at 3:10 pm
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