She'll be coming down the mountain... road

Do you know those moments when you know if your mom could see what you were doing she would kill you... yeah, well I had one of those last night. I went to my friend Claire's house for dinner and grocery shopping and she lives about 30 minutes away. Getting there is getting easier each time I make the journey, but I have yet to go home the same way. There aren't really a lot of ways that I should take home, I just seem to get lost rather easily. One would think that taking the road labeled to Belfast would be a good choice... but again and again I am learning that is not the case. It really is the blasted round-a-bouts. In the states when you are going home you know if you went right, go left ect... but here, the circle is killing me. Which branch of the bout did I come from? Where am I now... in the case of the knott's corner round-a-bout... I chose incorrectly. It kind of felt like the moment in princess bride when the little man was debating which glass to drink from... I am the little man. So needless to say I was on the road to belfast... which I shouldn't have been on, and there was a car following close behind me, and most of you don't know, but going over the mountain... no lights to show me the way. I was on this road, and there wasn't a good place to turn around -- so I decided to just follow it to belfast and hope that I knew where I landed. well, fine in theory.., in practice not the best choice I could have made... well I drove for what seemed like a really long time and didn't seem to be going down... and just as I was about to pull over and do a U turn I started to go down the mountain... I figured it couldn't be long... then the fog hit. You know how brights aren't all that helpful in the full-on fog, and there were no lights to guide me... I was winding down a road I didn't know,.. with very little guidance... and it seemed to take FOREVER! Finally I made it to where the city was beginning to be visible below me, and I felt a little better... although, I didn't recognized anything. I came down into a protestant area (marked by the flags) and as you all know I don't live there. I was really afraid that I had landed on the east side of Belfast... where I know NOTHING! So I kept driving, and as much as I love living here, Belfast doesn't feel beautiful at night. All of the shops are sealed by the metal garage doors securing them. Makes you feel really safe. I kept driving, hoping my car didn't die and that eventually I would see a sign for the motorway or any road I knew.... I kept looking for landmarks thinking i'd call someone and see if they could direct me home.... and I kept driving... finally I came to a round-a-bout with a sign pointing to belfast castle and belfast zoo and I was about to pull over when I saw a landmark that I knew just ahead. AHHHHHHH.... it was Carlise Circus... a roundabout near my school.. on the absolutely opposite side where I thought I was, but it was the way I go home from school everyday! Saved! I was absolutely exhausted when I got home, and I am glad that I have been driving around trying to get my bearings. Early September I think that I would have completely panicked... so I guess I am feeling a bit better. Pretty soon I might even be able to tell you where I went out on Saturday night:)