Jason's Daily Notes

It was the first day of my family Christmas trip through England and Wales. I was awoken around 08:30. My mom and uncle called to say that they were on their way to my flat (to pick up a few thinsgs from their bags. They got lost - it took them like an hour to just walk the 5 minute walk to my place! Apparently my uncle asked for directions to Brixton and they walked all the way to Brixton! Sigh.

Mike awoke before I could take off, so I was there when he received his gifts. Oh well. My mom and uncle were off, taking the tube from Stockwell to Tottenham Hale, where we had to change to a national rail service. The next train was in 20 minutes, so we snacked on some croissants and coffee while waiting. The train eventually came, and we got off after only two stops. We walked from there to the car rental place, and soon I was off with a rental car. We definitely made sure to buy the additional insurance!

And then we were off. After my embarrassment trying to drive on our trip to Scotland this past May, I let my uncle do the driving. Unfortunately, he was also not too experienced with driving a stick shift. It was obvious that it was still a bit of a struggle to get the car going at times, but somehow we made it out of London and onto the M25 and then the M1.

I directed us to exit at Luton, where I would practice driving! I found a residential neighborhood with lots of streets that seemed perfect to practice on. So we parked the car, and it was my turn to go!



Seat adjusted, mirrors checked, buckled in - all good to go. I fired up the car and tried to heed the advice that I had repeatedly been given: "Just balance the clutch and the gas pedal, releasing it slowly!" I really, truly, seriously tried! Yet, it would stall out many times when I started. WHY?!?! I was doing exactly what I was supposed to!

Somehow, after a few tries, I got the car to go. I developed a helpful strategy: pressing on the clutch more. This worked! I drove around the neighborhood several times, going down the main street and getting up to 4th gear even! Things were going well. I still stalled a couple times, but I could move the car around - this was progress.

I pulled into a street that was a dead end. I had to turn the car around, but I couldn't figure out how the hell to put the car into reverse! It was there, on the gear shift, but as much as I tried, the wouldn't get into reverse. W. T. F!!!! I ended up getting out of the car to push it backwards. Seriously, this was not cool.

I started to drive out of Luton, toward the motorway. I came to a red light at an intersection, and I stopped on an uphill incline. Uh oh. I had heard that starting while on an incline was difficult, and my stomach sank. But something even more urgent had appeared: When I stopped, puffs of smoke were billowing out from under the car's hood. Uh oh! I couldn't get the car to move forward; it stalled every time and began to roll backward. The cars behind me were already impatient - I waved them around me. I frantically switched places with my uncle, who could also not get the car moving easily. It took several tries, but he pulled it into the service station, which, luckily, was right there next to where the car was stalled.

Smoke billowing from under a car's hood ("bonnet") is never a good sign. So I tried to see what the cause was. The oil in the car was good; the smoke was coming from deep under the engine. I called the car rental breakdown hotline, which took a long time to connect (and several phone calls, and being transferred around several times) before they were able to send someone out to take a look at the car. It took about an hour before the guy came out. While waiting, my mom and I walked over to a nearby take-away shop and bought some food. My uncle asked another driver there to show him how to put the car in reverse (apparently you have to pick up the actual gear shift! Crazy)!

The service guy (from AA) arrived and took a look at the car. He suspected that we had just ridden the clutch too hard, which caused it to start rubbing hot and burning up. Oops! He took the car for a test drive, and it drove just fine. Clearly, the car had no problem. It was the driver that fucked things up :X

I handed the rest of the driving over to my uncle from there on. But that doesn't mean it was smooth sailing. He had only driven a 4-speed stick shift in the P.I. many years ago, so he had to re-learn how to drive it. On top of that, he was completely new to driving on the opposite side of the road, and all of the road signs and road rules in the UK. And there was no way he could figure out directions with all of that going on as well. Needless to say, I was very awake as I guided him on the rest of the drive.

Leaving Luton, the car stalled at a red light one more time, and it took a good half minute before we could start it up again. But we were right next to a police car. Uh oh again! The police checked in with us and helped us push the car out of traffic. I explained that we were American and asked them to forgive our ignorance. The officer chuckled at this case of "Kentucky Fried Clutch" and let us on our way!

We drove on the M1 and switched over west on the M6, past Birmingham. We didn't stop. We didn't dare stop. The day turned to night before we crossed into Wales. The drive across North Wales was perilous and nerve-wreaking as well. We stopped for petrol once. We tried to stop for food in a small town, but the streets were narrow and on an incline, so there was no way that we could park there. So we turned around, luckily not encountering any other motorists, and we headed on our way.

We drove through the mountains, nervously going through Snowdonia National Park without seeing any of it. Soon we were in the town of Porthmadog, where we checked into our tiny hotel (which was really just 3 rooms above a pub). Hungry, we went to the next-door restaurant. It was a very fancy restaurant, and they had some special things prepared for Christmas. A nice, well-deserved dinner after an exhausting day. (The waitress was cute and very friendly too.) This dinner counted as my graduation celebration dinner :)

Back in the room, and sleep came easily.