Never been there, is it fun?
I lived near Cirencester when I passed my driving test and my driving instructor alternated between driving in Swindon and driving in Cheltenham. I know that ghastly roundabout.
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Oh, I feel qualified to comment on the Magic Roundabout, having lived in Swindon (for my sins) for the best part of 20 years until moving to Gironde (funnily enough, I left the Cote dāAzur to go back to Swindon!) 
The Magic Roundabout works fantastically well as long as the other people using it are familiar with how it functions. I never had any issues using it whatsoever. I only ever saw crashes with people who presumably werenāt familiar with the concept and hesitated or panicked, thus leaving their bonnet sticking out slightly for someone to crash into. I was always fortunate to arrive after theyād happened so could always navigate around them by taking a different route round the roundabouts.
Not sure the concept would work over here though. French drivers donāt tend to indicate at roundabouts until they reach their exitā¦ donāt think Iāve ever seen someone indicate left upon arriving at a roundabout.
Ah, Cirencester is lovely. I grew up about 10 miles away.
We live now in a very small town. We met our neighbour and when she heard weād arrived from England, she asked if we knew Cheltenham as her son lived there. I replied saying I do indeed know Cheltenham as I lived not far away in Swindon, at which point she pointed out that her son worked for Honda in Swindonā¦! What a small world we live in 
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well first you need to define āfunā but you can look it up here;
The aerial pictures on google might help with an understanding of whatās involved.
Hmm, yes, it does look fairly chaotic, doesnāt it. Speaking theoretically, I would describe that as a challenge to the intellect (and making due allowance for the morons thereon). Etoile is perhaps more demanding of courage and brio, so itās a different animal. As you say, define āfunā. 
adrenalin and car horns - almost as good as brilliant sex 
Ah! Got the difference - at Swindon you can assume all the other drivers are mad, at Etoile you know they are.
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How about sex and car horns? I always keep an old āParp-parpā one by the bed myself! 
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what a hoot! 
No!! Thatās where I learnt to driveā¦
Before or after the traffic lights? If before, I salute you. I accompanied a learner driver there in the late 60s and he was so petrified he went round four times before I got him edged off down Constitution Hill!
Thereās one in Hemel Hempstead and another one in High Wycombe too
Well beforeā¦my instructor reckoned if I could do that safely I could do anything.
A man of good judgement, I would say.
Iāll take hyde park corner any day over a narrow wiggly French mountain road with another car glued to my back bumper, and cars coming in the other direction in the middle of the road, and a car in front that doesnāt know how to use gears so constantly slams on brakes to get round cornersā¦ so happy and relaxed when Iām driving in cities!
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You paint a vivid picture, Jane - I know that scenario so well! City-driving may be frustrating, but youāre unlikely to find a coach or truck careering towards you at 90 kph and halfway over the white line. On the whole, I think Iāll stick to the small towns and gentle country roads of the Languedoc as far as I can.
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Parents lived in Surrey, I lived in Kilburn in the late 60s/early 70s. Oh the joys of flying round Hyde Park Corner, zooming up Park Lane, swooshing round Marble Arch and heading happily up the Edgeware Road back to my flat share. In those days you could fly, zoom and swoosh in central London if you knew exactly which lane you needed to be in.
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I like hearing how Waze pronounces the town MontluƧon when driving to my partnerās mumās place in Haute-Vienneā¦ itās supposed to be a soft-c 
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Once upon a time, you could zoom and swoosh up Cromwell Road and then park right outside Harrods! Those were the days 
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