Showing posts with label Learning to Drive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Learning to Drive. Show all posts

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Learning to Drive

My mission during my time in Ireland is simple: I Must Learn To Drive.

Even if, for whatever reason, passing my test is impossible, I want to leave Ireland with the intention of passing it in the near future, and at the very least having the skills to competently drive.

Learning to drive at the age of 24, when your mind is already perfectly settled into its ways, I thought, would be tricky. But I've been really impressed at how my brain is retaining all the tricky information and sequences in which you're supposed to do everything.

I have a really great instructor who is also hilarious and I'm really enjoying driving around with him intermittently shouting 'handbraaaake' at me. I've asked him to be extra harsh on me and in the first few lessons I really think that helped me progress.

Tomorrow will be hour six of my lessons, and from then on it will be test preparation. I still forget my mirror/signal order sometimes, don't use my mirrors enough, and need a lot of prompting for my handbrake, but gear changes are going swimmingly and I actually have good control over the clutch/gas.

It's a shame there's no car for me to practice in at home, I think getting comfortable on the road is the main thing I need help with, rather than technique, but so it goes.

I don't have a test date yet, I cancelled my October 2nd date after a depressingly poor 4th lesson, so I have to wait to hear back, but I hope it'll be by November and I have some work to do to tide me over during the longer wait in Ireland.

I never thought I'd actually enjoy driving, in my late teens I shunned getting a provisional license and when I finally got one never took learning any further. I can't wait to get my license, rent a car and drive around Scandinavia. I want to go on a roadtrip to Lithuania to visit a friend too.

I cannot wait :)

(Toot toot)


Farming
 The need to drive a tractor somewhere in my future is what forced me to get myself together and just do it already.
I absolutely want one of these bad boys eventually, in whatever delicious pastel shade is most readily available to me.