I arrived back in England and I was given a year to drive around on an American license. I started by driving in Melton Mowbray as this is where I was living at the time. This was another interesting experience, made easier by the fact that I had 3 years of driving behind me, albeit on the other side of the road in an automatic car!

In England, to be able to drive, the car needs an MOT (Ministry of Transport) to certify that it has passed the minimum legal requirements for being on the road for a year. The car also requires some vehicle documentation (a.k.a. logbook) that lists the registered keeper. Unfortunately the person that I bought the car from had lost it! I had to wait 3 weeks to receive a new one from the DVLA (typical). Of course, the standard car insurance is required and because I was on an international driving license then - you guessed it - I was probably at the maximum price.

The car also needs a tax disc, either 6 months or 1 year, but in order to obtain the tax disc, the MOT, the car insurance and in my case, the logbook was required (even though the official documentation stated that I didn't need it).

The car is a Nissan Primera 1995 1.6L. It is a manual (stick shift) and of course I have to drive it on the left hand side of the road. This looks a lot like my American Toyota Corolla 'Flo' but it is metallic blue with a sunroof and a spoiler. The funny thing is, the British Toyota Corolla looks nothing like the American Toyota Corolla - probably because the roads are so small - but the Nissan Primera does, so in effect I have my old car! LOL.

I have decided to name the car 'Bert' for no other reason than 'it is a bit rough around the edges' and the name seems appropriate!