Driving in the USA

Apprehensive, nervous and just plain sh*% scared were my feelings about driving on the right hand side of the road.On top of this the rental company didn't have the Rav4 we ordered so they gave us an uprade to a lovely Chevy which feels like a Winnabago  compared to Anne's Peugot or my Beema.To add to the challenge, my first drive was at night,on a five lane freeway and in fog with .2 mile visability.For any readers that have driven on the right hand side you will know of the extreme tendency to hug the right hand side of the road.I told Simon (bro in law) that the freeway seemed to be very undulating and he replied it was, but he then explained that what we could hear was my right side tyres going over all the cats eye lane dividers.After I corrected it did go quiet for a while but then he said the reason was I had actually gone so far over that one third of the mammoth vehicle was in the other lane.Cassie invented a code sound which was "meow" to remind me when we hit the cats eyes from then on and that sound was heard many times on the trip.
Some of the other quirky things I discovered was that many cars have red indicator lights (when they actually use them) and it is the norm to go up to 10 miles per hour over the speed limit on the freeway although I try to stick to it until I get rammed from behind. I have yet to see one police car or camera.
Just like Australia, mobile phone (cells) are banned while driving but also just like Australia every other car seems to have someone at the wheel using one.
A quaint rule they have is that the first person to get to an intersection has right of way which seems incredibly subjective to me but it seems to work.To be safe I just give way to everyone.
Apart from Simon having to grab the steering wheel and push it so I went back to the left of the lane I think I have done rather well so far but it is early days !!

Settling in

Just starting to settle into holiday life in San Diego.Staying with my Bro and Sis in law in their beautiful,huge home and getting to spend time with nephew, Jace is such a different experience to being in a hotel.

I am driving,shopping for groceries and going to coffee places to drink fancy named coffees while using my lap top.(I now feel like one of them).One thing I have noticed is that San Diegans are very polite and curteous people and seem to have a stong desire to deliver excellent service.I have previously not been a fan of the tipping system but after going to several restaurants so far I can only observe that it seems to work.Waiters and managers are very attentive without being over the top and I feel more than happy to pay the extra 20% or more.

The Winter weather here is an extremely pleasant surprise.It is sunny and mostly cloudless every day so far and very similar to Adelaide's best spring or autumn days.The down side is it does get cold when the sun dips down which is quite early