#@$% I'm on the wrong side of the road

I'm back home in Australia at the moment so I thought I'd share my observations on how the human mind deals with a challenge like driving on the wrong side of the road.

Now 'wrong' all depends on what you're used to. When I first moved to the US I thought the wrong side of the road was of course the right. I quickly trained myself to avoid actually driving on the 'wrong' side (in this case the left). But for at least six months I'd be happily driving along and every now and then I'd suddenly panic. "#@$% - I'm on the wrong side of the road" I would say to myself, only to realise moments later that I was exactly where I was supposed to be!

So how long does it take me to adjust to driving on the left when I'm back in Australia? About 15 minutes. Strangely, the hardest thing to get used to is sitting in the front left seat without a steering wheel. After several days back home it still feels weird.

A few years back the suits from Detroit took a little trip to Tokyo with the US Trade Rep where they proceeded to berate the Japanese for not buying enough American cars, not realising that the Japanese drive on the left and didn't really warm to cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side!

Who else drives on the left? Well most of the British Commonwealth (except Canada which is this disconcerting mix of things American and British, which leaves one always uncertain what to expect), Japan as mentioned above and, for some reason, Indonesia. Here's an in depth analysis from Wikipedia. But they don't include the Philippines. I know they're supposed to drive on the right, but in my experience in Manila they tend to drive on both sides!