SIDEWALK RULES

Most people fear driving in England because of the left side of the road issue; they should be more concerned about walking. It requires more than a little skill, luck and God's grace for an American to navigate successfully on Oxford sidewalks.

First of all, they're crowded. More people walk here, at all hours of the day and night, than anywhere in the U.S., especially the Midwest, where we drive everywhere. They're also narrow, except for some places where they open up into broad avenues or pedestrian malls. If you dare to step off the sidewalk to walk around some slow-moving walker, you might get run over by someone in the bicycle lane. These are not your casual bicyclists -- the average speed seems to be about 25 MPH.

Then there's the issue of passing someone. On the left or right? If you follow the driving rules, it should be on the left. But not everyone follows that rule, probably because walkers include Continental Europeans and Americans, who are used to being on the right. And if you're walking with one or more friends, you are most often walking in a queue rather than in tandem. If you give in to the temptation to walk side-by-side, you will need to part when someone wants to pass you or when someone comes from the other way.

You need to stay alert, move fast and avoid the street at all costs. You also need to wait for the stop lights to turn green before you attempt to walk across the street. You're at a disadvantage to begin with, since you forget which way to look to see if vehicles are coming at you; then you need to take into account bicycles, high speeds and sharp turns at corners. I've almost gotten killed a few times and almost killed others by trying to cross against the light or away from intersections.

But it's good training for Rome, which, as I recall, is even more intense street-wise. More on this later.