Starting to drive.
I officially hate you, WordPress. You ate my perfectly good post on driving!
Anyway, to cut a really long story short – I finally started driving lessons. My first lesson didn’t go so well – the instructor I had signed up with shafted me to another instructor without telling me. This other instructor was an elderly man who was naggy, impatient, and generally rubbed his own anxiety off onto me. At one point, he actually facepalmed himself. Oh, AND he insisted on speaking to me in either Mandarin or Malay.
Obviously, I refused to sign up with him for more lessons, so I went online and found another instructor recommended by some guy who passed the test on the first try. I fixed an appointment for this evening and within 10 minutes of getting into the car, presenting my provisional licence for inspection and answering questions about the different controls, found myself driving. On the road. For real. With actual traffic. Without screaming.
I gotta say, after I stopped clenching my butt cheeks, my toes and my calves trying to keep a nice even pressure on the accelerator and not throw the car into spasms by releasing the clutch too quickly, I actually had fun. This new instructor actually allowed me to drive without holding onto the wheel, which made me feel a lot more confident than when I took my very first lesson – where the instructor would not let go and instead kept pulling the wheel so that I was all confused as to how much to actually turn the damn thing to make the car go the way I wanted. At the end of the lesson, he said, “I like your driving.” Ah, sweet words.
Next lesson is next Saturday. Hopefully I will still remember everything then!
April 20, 2010
2 responses to Starting to drive.
Exciting! All the best!
Learning how to drive had been very liberating for me – not just in a sense that I can now actually drive myself somewhere (when I get the car, that is), but also I’m comforted by the knowledge that I have this extra, useful skill.
Give it your best shot. In more ways you are more gungho than me. If I can manage to pass the first time wrong and still driving now… it should not be a big big hurdle for you.