Look closely at Stonehenge. Do you think that circular shape is just
coincidence? Hah!Outside the Scottish town of East Kilbride there is an intersection called the "Whirlies Roundabout". Never was a place more descriptively named.
I defy any tourist lacking nerves of steel and a map of Western Scotland inscribed on the inside of the cranium to negotiate this whirling dervish, this mælström of motordom, and survive the experience with tranquility intact and sense of direction not screaming TILT!
And yet, the Whirlies is not really unusual... it is a thoroughly typical British roundabout (known to North Americans who remember them, as a traffic circle). You'll find roundabouts everywhere you go in Britain.
The British love them because they keep everyone moving and thus save lots of time, frustration and energy. Apart from these very practical considerations, I speculate there is a much deeper cultural significance...
Look closely at Stonehenge. Do you think that circular shape is just
coincidence? Hah!
And what about those mysterious phenomena known as crop circles? Inexplicable, perfect, circular shapes that appear in healthy field crops overnight. They look for all the world as if flying saucers had rested there, crushing the crops -- but the stems of corn or wheat are never broken, just gently bent by some mysterious circular force!
I could go on and on... round barrows... ancient burial sites... Avebury Circle, bigger than Stonehenge... mammoth, man-made Silbury Hill where, even today, modern witches still sometimes dance naked at midnight around the circular hilltop.
Are roundabouts a manifestation of ancient mystical forces latent in the British psyche? I don't know, but while Britons embrace them with characteristic enthusiasm they can be terrifying for the poor, bemused tourist from grid-oriented North America. They are certainly the biggest single challenge facing the tourist driver.
So, tune in to the ancient mystic power of circles. Read how roundabouts work, discover how you can learn to make them work for you. And, as you enter the magic circles for the first time...
May The Force be with you!
