It's a narrow road to take.

I think a word needs to be said about the driving on Islay. By and large Dawn as done all the driving on the island. I did one tiny jaunt this evening, just to get a taste, but I'm happy to let her continue to hone her island driving skills. Here and there there are two lane roads. Mostly along the (relatively) heavily traveled section between Lagavulin and Bowmore. It's hard to describe the roads everywhere else. They look like they were paved with the intention that golf carts would be the primary source of transportation. Basically the rest of the island is paved with single lane roads and every now and again there will be a widened bulge in the road. If you happen to see a car coming the other way then one of you should try and get to a bulge to give the other one room to pass. That is, if you get to see the other car coming. The roads were also built with a quantity of blind turns, leaps of faith, and steep hill tops that can only be indicative of a place where you assume no one else is coming.

Racing down a one lane road over a blind hill top without knowing if someone is doing the same thing on the other side is...uh...exhilarating? Dawn seems to think so.

Did I say racing? Why yes I did. That's because speed limits are only posted in towns. Actually the beginning of the speed limit is posted (30 kph) and the end of the speed limit is also posted...so you don't accidentally continue to let the man tell you how fast to drive. Outside of towns as far as we can tell its a free for all.

Well at least the cars are really tiny here... wrong. SUV's, pickup trucks, semis, buses, and small European cars are all at home here. I think the number “American sized” cars here is due to the fact that, unlike suburbia, you might actually get stuck in a peat bog trying to give way so another car can pass.

Insane as it sound the whole system works fairly well. We don't often see other people on the roads, and when we do they almost always wave to us. You pass someone coming the other way, you wave to them. They stop at a bulge, they wave to you. You stop at a bulge, they wave to you. I'm beginning to really dig the philosophy of small island life which seems to center around: there aren't many people here, we all know each other, so let's be a pleasant as we can to each other. Rude actions can't be covered in a cloak of anonymity.

This philosophy extends well pass the driving situation in to all facets of life. Its no joke that this experience has stirred strong desires to escape the world and give island life a try. If only I didn't hate boats.