Interpretation: Drawing the Wheel of Fortune card indicates the occurrence of a big change or twist of fate. Life is full of ups and downs, but one must strive to keep the Big Picture in mind because the Wheel is always turning. Good or bad fortune will not last forever. All life is change and nothing is constant. That's the real lesson of the Wheel.
Image: Edmonton has quite a few two-lane traffic circles, thanks to some British ex-pat city planners back in the day who thought it was a good idea to have #@%$!! English roundabouts at certain intersections instead of traffic lights.
The problem, of course, is that not everyone knows the special driving rules needed to manoeuvre through multi-lane traffic circles. When I first moved to Edmonton, I had never seen a traffic circle in my life. The first time I found myself in one was a terrifying experience. I caused much honking, swearing and flipping of the bird by other drivers. It's a miracle that I didn't end up in a car crash.
After that, I avoided traffic circles like the plague and would drive blocks out of my way rather than use one. It was My Rare One who (thank goodness!) taught me how to correctly drive through them.
This traffic circle sign leads to the Edmonton intersection with the city's highest annual auto collision stats. Spinning the Wheel of Fortune, I drive through it at least twice a day.
[Photo by Debra She Who Seeks]
How dizzifying. HA HA... I have driven through a couple of those in my lifetime... they are just so silly imho.
ReplyDeleteI hate those traffic circles. For some reason, they love those things here in rural South Carolina, where there are literally dirt roads meeting a small highway....
ReplyDeleteI hope you are doing well. I've been so busy I had to push blog to side for a while, but I'm still doing it.
haha..the notorious rotaries! they are all over new england and nantucket. they can be fun!
ReplyDeleteI think I know the 'rules' - until I am approaching these beasts and then all reason goes out the window and I am in sheer survival mode! Interesting to learn the history behind them :)
ReplyDeleteThose traffic circles...just close your eyes and drive on through.
ReplyDeleteRoundabouts are a necessary evil - just got to keep moving once you're on them.
ReplyDeleteIn our small town, instead of paying to put up a stoplight at a busy intersection, our mayor thought it would be brilliant to spend millions of dollars to built a double roundabout. 5 years later and still no one has any idea how to use it properly. I almost get into an accident with someone just about any time I use it. Thanks, Mr. Mayor!
ReplyDeleteI grew up having to travel one everyday on the way to school....so I enjoy them
ReplyDeleteI have never been on one, ever, i have never traveled more than a few hundred miles from home and then it was bush we drove through, I will take your advice and stay off them,
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a big city that had these, so I was exposed to them regularly throughout my driving years. And yet I was never able to get used to them. They overwhelmed me and they still do. Till this day, I try to avoid them! I cannot stand them.
ReplyDeleteI rather love a roundabout! And once you mastered it, didn't it feel terrific to zip right around it with no problem.
ReplyDeleteyou'll love where our only (until 4 years ago) rotary is.....where the Native American land north of the city meets the city limit. Now how in the for crying out loud did an idea from England invade the middle of nowhere New Mexico just where a progressive native tribe's sacred land meets suburbia.....it's a secret...but I think I like the irony. Oma Linda
ReplyDeleteI can see the advantages of these roundabouts as long as everyone knows the rules and more importantly knows how to follow them through.
ReplyDeleteOh those Brits!! lol
that's a terrifying experience!
ReplyDeleteCome on people, they're much more efficient that stoplights.
ReplyDeleteyeah, took me a while to figger em out when i lived there... now, i'd be just as lost as any noob
ReplyDeleteone thing i love about edmonton driving: EVERY street runs north/south; every AVENUE runs east/west... best damn idea, ever! :)
We've a traffic circle here in Brooklyn that sometimes you can't get out of once you start.
ReplyDeleteMary
Oh yes Edmonton's traffic circles. My brother directly expressed how to deal with those...wasn't it the person on the inside has the right of way...I believe? Gotta get in there first. I survived a few.
ReplyDeleteI'm an American and I've driven the mythical quintuple dual lane Swindon roundabout in a rented car, stick shift, left-handed. (Google it and stare in horror.)
ReplyDeleteI figured if I can do that I can do anything!
(Just braggin' a little.) :)
Another great interpretation!
ReplyDeleteWe have roundabouts here in Colorado. A fairly new thing - only being put into existence here in the last few years. Fortunately there are gobs of signs telling people what to do and how to drive in one. I would much rather deal with a roundabout than traffic signals.
Debra.....Roundabouts are a fairly new phenomenon in AZ....and like you.....it took me a while to figure them out. I had a friend from Idaho in the care one day when we encountered one...and I know she thought I was going to get us killed. LOL
ReplyDeletexo
Jo
Very interesting comparison! I dislike traffic circles because no one seems to know how to drive in them. In one job, I worked in a town where the traffic circle was designed backwards...literally, so people driving through it had to stop every few feet.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the entire population was kind of like that.
I think I will stay away, thank you ;o) Great lesson on The Wheel of Fortune card ;o)
ReplyDeleteI don't care about the wheel, juts the fortune ;-) hehehehe
ReplyDeleteWe have them here in Winnipeg now! I remember fondly the first time we touched down at Heathrow...get our rental, opposite side of everything, manual shift and off we go. First roundabout ever....husband did well! Not much honking behind us...
ReplyDeleteThe city we live in has "Round Abouts" which connect different sectors, so you have to drive in circles every day. It's kind of convenient, you can always turn any way and find the needed sector, no matter which way you were driving before... wheels, circles...
ReplyDeleteUgh... I hate traffic circles too. I try and avoid them like the plague as well.
ReplyDeleteTraffic circles are EVIL.
ReplyDeleteIt was the 1960's. I had never seen a roundabout. On a trip to England, we rented a little Ford with the steering wheel on the wrong side. Of course, they also drive on the wrong side of the road over there (from our perspective).
ReplyDeleteSo at the first traffic circle, I was completely confused, went around several times and couldn't figure out how to get off the thing, eventually winding up on the island in the middle, at right angles to the traffic.
Had to wait quite a while for a large enough gap in the traffic flow to allow me to back out onto the road. We still laugh about it, but it wasn't funny at the time.
I don't think I've ever been in a reffic cicle, although I have heard of them. Sounds scary, like the wheel of Fortune i suppose, but as you say it is a temporary situation so if I ever find myself in one i shall take heart in that thought. (Temporary not meaning final hopefully).
ReplyDeleteI nearly crapped my pants the first time I encountered one of these in Edmonton. Especially since I rear-ended three elderly women who had inexplicably stopped on one in Saskatoon.
ReplyDeleteI thought Jersey was the only place besides London (look kids Big Ben, The Parliament) that had circles. I love them. It gives me a chance to exercise my Jersey State Bird.
ReplyDeleteWe have a traffic circle here too. It used to be a five way stop, then they modified it. Many of the locals avoid it like the plague. Change is slow.
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