Tuesday 12th June 2007
I'm nervous. Very nervous.
Tim is in Seoul. Rhiannon has to be at school on time / early as she has a swimming lesson first thing. And then I have to go to work!
I've got another day of IT training at the Embassy. Not entirely sure what it will entail as the department have been reticent about telling me any details but I do know it's on Microsoft Access which doesn't fill me with pleasure. Not my favourite course to teach. Their system is so tied down there is very little they can do with it. But I'm not nervous about this… my main worry today is how to drive from school to work.
And for me, this is a big concern. I get lost trying to find my sense of direction.
I'm OK driving to places I'm familiar with (school and back) but this is way out of my comfort zone. However, the GPS is set up and after dropping Rhiannon off at school, I grip the steering wheel very tightly and set off.
Roads here vary from six lane main roads to narrow lanes that are sometimes one way, but more often than not, two way. Which is interesting when you meet another vehicle coming in the other direction. Corners can be extremely tight and it's common to see people taking a couple of attempts to negotiate them, even taxis.
An additional peculiarity of Tokyo's roads is the way the lanes don't quite match up after you've made it across an intersection. You sort of have to drift a little to find your way back in between the white lines.
Furthermore, there are massive freeways that fly over and under the main roads. Most of the time the entrances are cunningly disguised as someone's driveway, but there are many places where the six lane road turns into seven and one of those lanes takes you onto the freeway. Incidentally, these are misnamed as they are not free - they are toll roads.
My biggest fear is accidentally getting onto one of these and then not being able to get off it until the next prefecture.
About three quarters of the way to the Embassy I reach one of the most enormous intersections you could possibly imagine. And even worse - I'm the first in the queue at the traffic lights! I don't like this one little bit; at least if there is someone in front of me I can follow them.
Ahead of me is the largest expanse of tarmac I've seen outside of an airport. Countless roads branch off it like a multi-pointed star. Sort of. My GPS is telling me something I don't understand as usual. But the map indicates that I need to take a road located at about 11 o'clock to where I am.
But there are three roads there, all at approximately the same 11 o'clock point. One of them goes up to a flyover. And another goes to a freeway... and at that point the traffic lights changed.
Yikes!
There are no lines on the road to indicate where to go. So I have little option than to just go! In fact I do believe I closed my eyes on the way across. I ended up going up the ramp to the flyover. Completely convinced I had inadvertently got onto the freeway, I panicked. But what can you do? You can't stop and go back. It's amazing how quickly your brain works sometimes. I was convinced I'd a) gone the wrong way up an exit ramp and b) got onto a freeway.
By some miracle this was the correct road! Goodness knows how. But my nerves were completely shredded.
After that, the work was a doddle and they paid me immediately which is always welcome.
By the way, the pictures in this post are not of this particular road, but give you an idea of some of the more gentle and user-friendly intersections.
