My first solo...

As I'm leaving for Ireland tomorrow, and I still hadn't driven alone, I decided today was the day. Not only into the village of Whitchurch (a 5-minute drive), but all the way to Cardiff, Canton to be exact, the section of Cardiff where I'll be teaching in about 2 weeks. I needed to take care of some paperwork at the insurance agent's (no matter how prepared and thorough you think you are, there's always something. I now know that AAA is not reciprocal with AA here in UK, and so - breakdown insurance. Watch as more money flies out the window...) Using my directions from David and Liz, I embarked on my mini-journey. I was so excited you'd think that I was discovering new land - well, for me it was . Of course, as I passed my first landmark, TESCO, I realized that I was almost out of petrol (are you impressed with my English?), so made my first pit stop. Hurray! A harried woman with two screaming kids in the car, yelling at them in an American accent, was right in front of me, so I asked her for directions without feeling too stupid. She'd been living here for 13 years, so was very understanding and helpful. I realized that I had to move, drove into another pump area facing the wrong way, was asked (kindly) to move by an employee and finally managed to fill up. My car is tiny and still it cost me over 32 pounds to do so. By this time, I'm wiped out, yet triumphant (it's the little victories) and head back onto the motorway.
Winding my way over various twisting roads, I managed to STAY LEFT and made it to Canton, with only one small wrong turn. Not bad... Avoided the dreaded "meter maid" at left by parking in the lot behind the agency.
Took care of business (everyone is so friendly!) and decided to walk the 20 minutes to City Center of Cardiff. (I needed a car break and City Center driving is that much worse than what I'd already accomplished.) The city, it turns out, is manageable and interesting with its very own castle (see left), arched and covered ways with shops, streets blocked off to cars, etc. I went to seemingly the only bookstore in the city, Waterstone's and purchased (nothing like last minute) a book about Ireland. Bought a chicken, mango chutney, and mayo sandwich to go from a shop and made it back to my faithful "Roc".
Full of confidence, I began my return trip. Piece of cake... you can see where this is going, huh? Almost made it home (actually saw TESCO's on my right) when I made a very wrong turn somehow and ended up in an industrial park somewhere. After asking directions from no less than 3 different people, with all of the accompanying wrong turns on my part, I finally made it home about 20 minutes later - exhausted.
But, of course, I decided to get back on the horse after eating my exotic sandwich at home and booking a bed at a hostel near Waterford (crystal, anyone?), and drove into the village to tackle opening a bank account here. That, my friends, is a story for another day, as I had to make an appointment for next week.
Tomorrow, the road to Ireland...