jay | Back to joyless traffic, here

Today I drove about 50 miles roundtrip, to have lunch with my friend LH. After ten days driving in Europe... the roads here seem wide and flat, but drivers seem slow and somewhat plodding or inattentive. And the vehicles are so large... A nice-sized, reasonably quick car in Spain looks shrunken and insignificant on US 101, even the same make and model. Giant rumbling pickup trucks with empty cargo bays and one occupant inside... look silly and wasteful. Not that my Mustang is much better, efficiency-wise, but at least it performs.

I had to keep slowing down on the freeway... I'd look down, think "I'm only going 140 km/hr, not fast at all" and then reprocess that to "I'm going 88 and could get a ticket". My somewhat-aggressive driving style, tolerance for close margins and preference for speed and maneuverability meant that I was very comfortable driving in Spain. Even asserting myself into traffic circles in plazas, daring others to cut in... zipping back and forth. Almost a dance. Here, I feel a bit out of place when driving... most drivers seem... joyless, for lack of a better adjective.