One Way...The Wrong Way

Mons is not that large of a city. With an area of just over 56 square miles and a population of 93,000 it is actually quite small. Mons proper is compact; I can easily walk from one side of the city to the other in a short time. Like many urban centers, this one is enclosed by a ring road that circles the city. Unlike most ring roads however, this one only moves in a one way, clockwise direction. In theory this ring of traffic makes it easy to circumnavigate the city and with strategically placed exit ramps it is easy to reach the most popular or important places within the city. And this is good, since the inner core of the city has limited parking and is a maze of narrow, one way cobblestoned streets whose layout makes no sense to me.

We live inside the ring road in the city center on a narrow one way street. Our secured garage and parking space is a block away on another one way cobblestoned street. We are fortunate that the exit off of the ring road is just a few short blocks from our house meaning under normal circumstances we can easily hop off the ring and to our house and / or our garage. It sounds simple enough, right? Of course not.

In anticipation of Mons being designated as a European Capital of Culture in 2015, the city is undergoing a renaissance of sorts with buildings being renovated, historical sites are being refurbished and many of the city's inner roads are being resurfaced with fresh cobblestones or pavers. Even the city's train station is being rebuilt from the ground up. It is actually all quite exciting and I can't wait to see how it all turns out. But in the meantime, we are essentially living in a construction zone of one way streets. And with one way streets you can only go.......one way. I think you know where I am going with this.

Several of the streets in our neighborhood have been closed since we moved into our house. (We should have taken it as a sign when our GPS failed us on our first attempt to visit the house). While their closures continues to confuse our GPS we've learned to navigate our way around the blockages and know how to get in and out of our neighborhood somewhat efficiently. Many of the closed streets actually run parallel but not adjacent to each other making it easy to go in one direction but virtually impossible to move in the other direction. But somehow we're muddling through and keep telling ourselves that there is a light at the end of the tunnel; just imagine how easy it will be to get around once all of the streets reopen. But then the city did something unthinkable, it closed a key (to us) one way street in our neighborhood.

The route between our house and our garage is up a narrow hill. The walk is a block away and unless I am hauling bagfuls of groceries, it isn't that bad. Actually, I will often live park in front of the house to off load my bags then drive right up the hill to park. But this is the road they closed meaning my short drive no longer exists. The closure came out of nowhere on a Thursday afternoon. One of the old brick mansions is being renovated and because buildings in the neighborhood lack setbacks, the only place to set the construction dumpster is in the middle of the street. Hence the closure. At first we thought it would only closed for a day or even a few days at most. After all, it is a city street. No such luck. As it stands now the road will be closed at least until the end of June. Yes June. That means a good six to seven weeks of no easy vehicle access from our house to our car. On the off chance we are able to find a parking space in front of our house we would have to drive a round about route to get out of the neighborhood. Or if we can't find a parking space, which is more often than not the case, we need to drive around for a good twenty minutes or so to get back to our garage (which is only one block away).

With this closure I've discovered that if I am to obey the flow of traffic the only way out of our neighborhood is along a round about route that takes us directly through the center of the city. In the morning it could easily add twenty minutes or so onto our commute. Unless it is Friday. That is the day of the largest market in Mons and the market takes place directly on the route I need to drive to get out of the neighborhood. In other words, the entire stretch of road is closed from the early morning hours well into the afternoon. I found this out the hard way when I was trying to navigate my way out of the neighborhood to pick Sidney up from school. Between the road blocks and traffic it took me over an hour to go the short eight kilometers I was trying to travel. It's a good thing I left early so I was only a few minutes late!

I keep telling myself that there has to be other ways to get in and out of the neighborhood but after my neighborhood walks and hours spent scrutinizing Google Maps I'm thinking there really isn't. So in many ways we are simply trapped. But all is not lost; I'm building up my biceps by lugging groceries from the garage and I'm putting many miles under my feet as I canvas the neighborhood in search of that elusive one way street that moves in the right direction. And if all else fails, I can just wait until the end of June for the street to re-open. Life will really be easy then.

Ah, these are the joys of city living. Despite it all, however, I'm not sure I would trade it for anything.

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday: Don't Be A Lemon

These billboards reminding drivers to be courteous while driving are all over the Belgian roadways:

Brakes Are Optional

Yesterday on Facebook a friend posted her frustration with the impatience of Boston drivers and their liberal use of the car horns.  I read the comment and chuckled since I had been thinking the same thing about Albanian drivers during my own short, but anxiety laden drive between my house and the grocery store.  We had been warned about Albanian driving habits before we arrived in the country and were briefed on the dangers of driving in Albania on our very first day at the Embassy.  Some joke that driving is a contact sport in Albania. While most days I wouldn't go quite that far (although I have experienced my share of bumps and dings while driving) driving here certainly isn't for the faint of heart.

The first thing one notices about Albanian drivers is that they only use their brakes as a last resort.  Blinkers and horns are used to an excess but Albanian drivers will swerve around slower vehicles, pedestrians or stray animals rather than use their brakes to slow down.  If you are like me and are foolish enough to stop for a red light (when the lights are working) or a stop sign, cars will come barreling up behind you, swerve to either the left or right (if you are lucky) and continue right on down the road.  I've had more near misses than I can count as both a pedestrian and a driver because I've assumed that on coming vehicles will stop for the traffic signals.  And don't even get me started about driving through the numerous traffic circles that clog Albania's roadways.  Cars pummel into them at full speed crossing from left to right and back again with nary a brake light in sight.  It continually surprises me that I haven't seen more accidents.  The aforementioned bumps and dings on the other hand, are another story.

When Albanian drivers see an open space--whether it be a left turn lane and they are continuing straight or turning right or the empty space is the lane for on coming traffic, they drive in it.  I'm not just talking about the mopeds and scooters whose drivers seem to have a completely different understanding of traffic laws.  (Personally, if I was driving such a small vehicle with no helmet or protective gear I would be especially careful and observant).  Furgons, trucks, and even buses join the ranks of sedans in creating three and four lane roads out of single lane streets.  On a street such as Tirana's main boulevard which already has numerous lanes, more often than not it will become a free for all of cars speeding in all directions in all lanes.  If a car has actually stopped to turn across oncoming traffic, it is a common sight to see two, three, or more other vehicles who have driven up around or in front of the vehicle in order to make the same turn.  Or a car will pull up on the left then continue straight on through the intersection and down the road--again with no brake lights.  The most common sight on the road is a vehicle heading straight towards you in "chicken" mode honking their horn to tell you to get out of their way.  Since we've been here a few "designated" bicycle lanes have popped up throughout the city.  I don't think I've ever seen an actual bicycle in any of them; rather, the bicycle lane is an additional lane for motorized vehicles whose drivers don't feel the need to wait in the traffic jam with the rest of us.  The country's numerous driving schools must teach all drivers that if there is an open space, they need to drive in it.

Just as Albanian drivers don't slow down for traffic signals, they don't slow down or stop for police officers.  I can't imagine any other place where police and other law enforcement officials are so disrespected and flat out ignored as they are on Albanian roadways.  Never mind if emergency vehicles with their lights flashing are approaching; your typical Albanian driver will continue on through either oblivious to or uncaring of the rules of the road that the rest of the world observes.  On a daily basis cars continue to speed by the police officers who stand in road in front of the Embassy as they attempt to direct traffic.  This morning we witnessed this disrespect again first hand as a driver got into a verbal altercation with a police officer who had the gaul to call him out on the fact he had cut off the police vehicle and nearly caused an accident.  (We were directly behind this incident and in the end I can only surmise that the driver "won" since after a lot of hand gestures and yelling he eventually sped away with the police officer following at a slower speed).  I can only imagine how different this scene would have been in any other western or civilized country.

Whether you call it defensive driving or just pure carelessness, you are taking your life into your own hands every time you take to an Albanian roadway.  Glenn says driving in Albania is liberating.  In some ways it is but the fact remains that getting behind the wheel here scares the living day lights out of me.  I  still do it though.  I use my horn more liberally than I could have ever imagined I would and I have become more relaxed about dings and bumps.  I haven't gone totally native though; I still stop for all red lights and stop signs and when I encounter the neighborhood cows in the street, I come to a full stop and allow them to pass.

Driving

I drove for the first time this past weekend.  The last time I drove was during a final rush hour trip to National Airport back in June. Not since I first got my license back in 1988 have I gone this long without driving.  My not driving was a conscious decision.  I've spent the past 2 1/2 months walking where I needed to go (which is actually quite easy to do here) and relying on Glenn, friends or GSO to bring me to more distant destinations.  I decided that it was finally time to conquer my fear.

I've always gotten a certain charge from driving in traffic.  Rush hour on the Beltway?  Bring it on.  Navigating Boston's streets during the height of the Big Dig construction?  An adrenaline rush.  There is nothing like being alone in a car on an open- or not so open- road to get away from it all.

So what was it about Albanian traffic that prevented me from getting behind the wheel?  Its not my driving skills that worry me; its the other drivers.  Glenn has been reminding me since we arrived that I have been driving far longer than most Albanians.  That is all fine and dandy but it doesn't make me feel any safer.  Despite the plethora of driving schools in Tirana, the majority of Albanian drivers seem to have a complete disregard for traffic laws.  (I have no idea what is actually taught in these schools but I doubt the curriculum resembles that of the school I attended way back when).

Most roads don't have lines or lane markings.  Those that are marked are so faded that they are practically unrecognizable.  This results in drivers speeding towards whatever open space is available.  Its not uncommon to see three rows of cars coming your way on what should be a two lane road.  Playing chicken with on-coming traffic seems to be the rule rather than the exception.   Cars will speed around you, passing on the right, only to immediately cut you off. Legal on street parking is practically non-existent so drivers will just stop their cars and double or triple park in front of their desired destinations.

I've noticed that the majority of intersections in Tirana have both stop signs and traffic lights.  This DOES NOT actually stop traffic however. Instead of traffic lights being situated over or in front of intersections, they tend to be located off to the far right of the driving lane causing the driver to have to crane their neck backwards to see the light color.  And that is if the lights are working. On any given day it seems as though half of the lights simply aren't working.  I naively thought that the stop signs were a contingency plan for when the lights aren't working.  That apparently isn't the case since people don't stop for them either.

Traffic circles, of which there are many in Albania, are equally scary. Yes, most traffic does move to the right but without lane markings traffic is a chaotic mess reminiscent of a scene from Richard Scary's BusyTown.  It a driver is in the far left "lane" but wants to immediately exit the circle on the right, they do so by cutting across four, six, or eight lanes of traffic.  Why?  Because they want to.

A pedestrian crosswalk with a traffic light was recently installed in front of the U.S. Embassy.  Most American drivers seem to stop for the red light but very few other drivers do.  In some ways this safety measure that should make it easier for pedestrians is actually more dangerous since one car will stop and a variety of cars, trucks, and mopeds will zip around the stopped car.  The first time I tried to cross the road I felt as though I was taking my life into my own hands.  No wonder I was so afraid of driving.

I found out that driving is like riding a bicycle. Once you get back in the driver's seat you pick up where you left off.  I turned up the radio- albeit to an Albanian station- and carefully took off down the street.  I dodged the crater-sized pothole at the end of our road and relished in my regained freedom.  I didn't tackle any traffic circles but I did pass through several busy intersections with malfunctioning traffic lights.  Watch out Albania, there's another driver on the road and this one will stop for red lights.