I can now legally drive in the UK. It was pretty simple, really, to get my UK driver's permit. I had to take a written test consisting of two sections: a list of multiple choice questions and a page of traffic signs that had to be matched up with the proper description. I read through the driver's handbook last week and took the test on Wednesday, only missing one question. Now that I'm legal, though, I am not too anxious to get behind the wheel. Driving on the left is not the problem. Though I never got behind the wheel during the three years we lived in Tokyo, I got used to traffic traveling on the lefthand side of the road. What scares me here in the UK are the narrow roads in the countryside. They are often no wider than a single lane in the U.S., yet are open to two-way traffic. If that's not bad enough, the roads often take sharp curves and steep dips or climbs. I find it hair raising, to say the least. Then there are the roundabouts, designed to avoid the use of traffic lights at junctions. My heart begins to race everytime I think about driving through (or round) one. They say once you get used to the roundabouts, you'll come to love them (don't you just hate waiting at traffic lights?) but I'm quite sure that in the beginning, I will be whiteknuckling my way along the carriageways of Yorkshire.