Foot of Cours Mirabeau, Aix-en-Provence
AnElephantCant stop circling around roundabouts
Sometimes he enjoys the sound of repeated repetition
(sorry, ignore that line, read this one instead, okay)
They are just great when you want to work out your position
But what he finds totally beguiling
Are French traffic islands
They can be such fun once you get rid of your inhibitions
They are often spectacularly eye-catching
In Aix one is an incredibly majestic fountain
Wherever you go
They indicate the right road
Although the signage can be mind-numbingly confounding
A rond-point is quite often busy
Not the place for any tomfoolery or malarkey
But the French are quite relaxed
No one really objects
If it is used for a wee spot of free parking
Check my cool car!
In many places they can be surprisingly verdant
A circle of flowers and bushes and trees
Not so easy to water
Though in heat of summer they gotta
So they are a haven for butterflies and wopses and bees
At major junctions it is easy to get flustered
Lots of exits but no pointers to be found
Don’t drive yourself crazy
Take it nice and easy
Have some fun and just orbit round and round
During rush hour they become quite congested
Even in Provence they can cause stress and strife
Traffic moves kinda slow
A little bit stop and go
AnElephant thinks a roundabout is an analogy of the circle of life
anelephantcant 
The only European roundabout I remember is the one at the Arc du Triomphe. We were just pedestrians but even from our vantage point it looked pretty daunting. I’ve since driven through many here in our area and find them very useful in keeping traffic flowing. Not sure if I’d venture out into one overseas, especially since I’ve never driven over there.
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You folk are just bizarre!
Roundabouts are cool, get over it.
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Oohhhh roundabouts… drove on those in New Zealand… they are scary!
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Roxi, you know AnElephant loves you but, man, you are weird sometimes!
Hugs
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Not used to roundabouts. They are kind of new in our area & I’m always thrilled when I see nobody else in there. They seem kind of confusing to my new roundabout eye.
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Please see AnElephant’s reply to Anja, down below.
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It’s official – I now live in Podunk 😉
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Sometimes I think people roundabouts are created by people with a fetish of mathematical compasses.
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You are a strange man.
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That much is true
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J’adore la sagesse d’UnElephant! C’est vrai, quand on y pense, un gyratoire c’est une belle métaphore pour la vie.
J’aime beaucoup la rimme “water”-“gotta”! Totalement désarmant. et puis, comment résister aux réitérations répétitives (ben oui, j’peux pas m’empȇcher!) sans rigoler?
La Rotonde me fait toujours rever.
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On peut pas ‘reverse’ sur le rond point, meme pas en France!
Mais to dream, c’est bon.
Et les Rotondes ont toujours les histoires, UnElephant croit.
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Round and round we go….where it stops…well you will be sick by the time it stops. I have a roundabout in my neighborhood which only has two roads and maybe 20 houses back here. 🙂 So its a bit of a play thing for us.
Nice car…hahaha
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Well, if you live in Podunk, that is what you get!
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