A bit off topic, but.......I just got back from visiting a friend who teaches school in Morocco.
Here is part of my diary.....about driving :
....It was a wonderful trip. And strangely enough, the driving was
a big part of it. Casablanca is a city of 4 million people, and the
way they drive there is...shall we say....not how we drive here. In
the begining, you think they all must be simply crazy, but as time
goes by, you begin to realise that the "rules of the road"
are....considerably different there than they are here. To the extent that
it actually takes **spectacular driving skill** to do the....rather hair-
raising things you see them do with regularity. Such as.....
There are several 6 lane ( 3 each way ) roads in the center of
Casa.......which really means there are 8 lanes, as no one pays the
slightest attention to the lane markings. Plus, it is apparently
totally OK to get within, say....6 inches of the car next to you.
In any case....even at 6 lanes, there is **no such thing** as a left
hand turn lane. So the way a left turn gets made is that tow to three lines
of cars line up side by side, and then, once they gather up enough
reenforcemants, they simply start turning as a single unit, into
oncoming traffic. You can't believe this is actually happening, until
you see it happen over and over !!
Plus, making a left turn, as a
single car, from.....way over on the the right hand set of lanes is
also a pretty common thing as well, and passes without comment.
Everyone gets from place to place in these little red state-
controlled taxis, and after my first drive in one, I *made sure* to
sit in the front seat, simply so I could get a first-hand view of the
increadable driving tactics these guys use. My own..."Wally's World"
experience, if you will. In fact, it would be worth the money simply
to have one of these guys drive you around in rush hour traffic !!
It's truely that amazing.
From what I could gather.....you never make use of the information
you might get from your rearview mirrors, but instead you take full
responsibility for your dealings with the fellow in front of you, and
assume that those behind you will do the same. Pedestrians simply
don't exist, or at best are pesky obsticals, which will be trusted to
take care of themselves.
And don't even ask about the hundreds of guys on those stinky 50cc
deisel mopeds. They live in a mental driving world all their own, and you
simply have to assume they are going to take care of themselves, or
else you would have a heart attack, attempting to deal with them and
their literally death-defing antics.
After two days in Casa, we rented a tiny Fiat Pallio.
About....1300cc at most, and drove east, up and over the Atlas
Mountains out to the tribal areas. It was a blast getting to thrash
that little 5 speed with it's skinny tires up over the narrow (Don't
look down !!) winding roads to the top. Once we got to **very** the
top of the pass, we had tea at a little cafe where you could sit and
look maybe 100 miles both west and east.
Once in the east, the roads were.....maybe 1 1/2 lanes wide, so
whenever another car was coming, one of you had to put your right side
tires off on the dirt sholder......at 100mph + combined closing
speeds. And hope there was not some donkey cart or goat herder there.
Clearing the other guy by a foot or so was...business as usual.
Horns are used in a quite different way than they are here. Here we
only use them when we think someone is screwing up, but there the use
of the horn is a much more friendly thing. One screwy thing is that
the traffic signals are not across on the other side of the
intersection, like they are here, but rather are right there on your side,
on the far right. This means that if you are at the head of a multi-
lane group of traffic, you....simply can't see the light. So friendly
honks from behind let the lead pack know that the light has changed.
Honking, or flashing your lights, also means "I see you".....or "I
want to make sure that you see me", both fairly considerate safety
moves. Honking also lets pedestrians on narrow back roads know that you
see them, and that you want them to know that you are coming.
Since Morocco was once a French colony , you see ALL the new
French cars...at least in the big cities. Renault, Fiat and Puegot.
Boy, does Puegot have some handsome cars these days. And there is
nothing more magestic that that big chrome Lion smack in the center of
the grill !
Anyhow...there was certainly much more to the trip than cars and
driving, but that part was really interesting.....if you happen to be
a "car person" that is.
;- )
Bob
PS. The funkyest car they have over there is this little Fiat
stationwagon-type thing. It was made for years, and looks like some
kind of a cartoon car from the 50's. Sort of like VW bugs here, people
still love them and keep them running, because they are so cute and
simple.
Anyhow the very best car story I heard was from a fellow teacher-
friend of my buddy John. He told of having a break-down in the
absolute middle of nowhere. A guy came walking along, and he told him
of his problem. The guy said "Walk out that way".
"That way" being......out into the totally flat nothingness of the
desert.
So he walks out a few hundred feet in the direction the guy
indicates, and here is this open hole dug in the ground....with this
guy living at the bottom of it !! With...his tools !!!
So he fixes the guys car for.....$6......and the friend is off and
on his way again !!
"Mechanic in a Hole"
You gotta love it !!!
:- )
B.
59 Morris Traveler....wish I still had it.
59 Rambler American 2 door wagon....wish I still had it too!
69 510 wagon......rolled
72 510 wagon .....daily driver
72 240Z.....sold
71 240Z....getting ready to sell it.
94 300ZX Slicktop NA....My new car

haha, that sounds awesome...
mechanic in a hole? 6$? -- lucky..

Sounds very familiar...
People Are Idiots, Just look around here and you will see!
Tony D: "Knowledgeable but Caustic"... rationull
My brother from another mother calls himself "Willie D"
Post Edited (Jan 18, 8:21pm)