Queen Elizabeth was late for the first engagement of her Golden Jubilee (that’s fifty years on the throne, Yanks) because her car got stuck behind a student driver. Hee!

I don’t think Americans realize how lucky they have it with the driving situation. When I turned fifteen, I got my learner’s permit and signed up to take Driver’s Ed at my school during the summer. I got an A on the exams (a monkey could) and survived several hours of driving and observation. As a result, when I turned sixteen and headed to the BMV I was able to completely skip the driving portion of the test. What’s the point of this? Other than the fact that I still can’t parallel park in a space smaller than thirty feet, in order to get an Australian driver’s license I have to taken both the written and driving exam. How in the world am I going to be able to pass that? I’m a country girl. Any stoplight with more than three cars constitutes major traffic for me. There’s no way I’m gonna pass the test if I have to do it in Sydney…