Driving in France

My buddy Lenore has a rented car--so we have been going around town, doing little errand-ish things which I won't be able to do once she leaves (she actually left about an hour ago).  She rented a Fiat Doblo, which is a funny-looking SUV (for those of you who know what Tinkerbell looks like, my electric car, blow it up about 25% and that's the Doblo).  It runs on diesel, and gets GREAT gas mileage (about 60 m/gallon, we figured).

One would make the assumption that traffic lights are universal--red means stop, green means go.  But what to do with a flashing yellow arrow at a corner?  And when you're trying to make a left turn off a major thoroughfare, what does a red CROSS mean?!  So, the cautious adventurer waits until someone honks at you, to know you should be going now.  This results in many frustrated-looking Gallic drivers, but at least keeps one out of the intersection when you shouldn't be there!  Triangular signs seem to suggest that the road is going to do something interesting, anywhere from 20 yards to 300 yards ahead.

In America, we have gotten used to the idea that our towns--relatively recent innovations--will have been laid out on "a grid", which means you can actually go around the block.  Not so in towns which began 900+ years ago--little lanes meander along, changing direction, sometimes becoming ONE WAY (the other way) with no warning.  You're just supposed to KNOW these things.  And, of course, as in every European town, a road will have many names as it goes along--it's Rue Andre Dupre in one block, and Rue Jean-Louis Guillard in the next block.  European towns, as well as cities, are built on the idea of a "square", in which all 4 roads which come together to create the space are named the same name.  This makes it rather difficult to follow directions, as you might imagine.  And the direction "2 blocks over from Place LeClerc" also becomes problematic--in which of the 4 directions does one go 2 blocks?!  I understand the concept of cultural relativity (I majored in Anthropology, for heaven's sakes), but sometimes I just want a road to go STRAIGHT and stay named the same name for a 2 mile stretch . . . maybe it's OK that Lenore took the car to the Toulouse airport.  I'll stay "home" and play a game of solitaire, where you can lay the cards out in a STRAIGHT LINE--who cares if I win?