Wales

Q: It's the insurance damage waiver for your beautiful new car. Now, will you need collision coverage?
James Bond: Yes.
Q: Fire?
James Bond: Probably.
Q: Property destruction?
James Bond: Definitely.
Q: Personal Injury?
James Bond: I hope not, but accidents do happen.
Q: They frequently do with you.
James Bond: Well, that takes care of the normal wear-and-tear. Is there any other protection I need?
Q: Only from me 007, unless you bring that car back in pristine order.



It's hard to believe that my time in Great Britain is winding down already. With less than a month to go at my job, I decided to make a shotgun trip into North Wales to do some hiking and site seeing. It was another reminder of how awesome Europe is in that you can take a day trip and find yourself in a completely different set of surroundings. Unlike the rolling hills of the English countryside, Betws-y-Coed is covered in peaks and rivers that resemble the way you would imagine Rohan. In fact, it turns out that instead of English, the Welsh actually speak Elf. In the early 1300's, Wales represented the Wild West of the United Kingdom. In order to bring the population under English control, Edward I built a number of castles which survive today.

The only downside to visiting Wales is that it's about a 4 hour drive from my flat. Rationalizing that traveling from Oxfordshire is much easier than from Baltimore, MD, I decided it was worth it to spend an entire day riding in my car to visit a place I might not have an opportunity to see again for a long time. Now that winter is here, though, it starts getting dark at like 3 in the afternoon. So by 8:00 pm when I was nearly home, it was pitch black outside. They don't believe in street lights over here, and with the cloud cover there wasn't much starlight to navigate by. Within 10 miles of home, I was pulling onto a stretch of about 20 roundabouts. Roundabouts are no big deal if you know which way you're going. But in this rapid fire sequence of one right after another, I had to rely on the road signs to confirm that I was going the right way. As I was exiting one of the roundabouts, a van pulled next to me and obstructed my view of the sign. Just as I slowed down enough to see that the sign didn't say "Oxford" on it, I made a snap decision to swerve right and continue around to the next exit. It was at that same moment that the driver behind me decided to fly past me on my right. When I pulled over, I noticed that the right bumper of my car was torn to shreds and there was a clear liquid running out onto the ground. After exchanging insurance details, I naturally did what anyone would do in that situation. I got back in my car and decided to see if it would get me home without a major catastrophe. I finally breathed a sigh of relief when I tested the windshield washer fluid and found that it was empty. In retrospect, I guess it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. It's always just when you think you've got a new skill mastered that you have a major incident, and my English driving skills are clearly no exception.