Driving Lesson Number 12.

I'm right getting into this driving lark now after 12 lessons! Woohoo! I thought I'd have been a complete wreck yesterday after a break of 2 weeks, but I got into the car, sorted my seat and just drove away as smooth as a baby's botty! Usually it takes me 10 minutes to get settled back into the car, but no such problems yesterday. I actually feel as if I'm getting somewhere now!

Yesterdays lesson was extremely productive as we went over the turn in the road again and I tried parallel parking again. I've only attempted that once, and that was with my old instructor but I just didn't get on with that car at all, Clio is much kinder to me! If I could just control my speed a bit better I'd get it no bother. At the moment I seem to either go a little too fast in the manouvres, or I just come to a complete halt! Oops...

I remember promising myself 2 weeks ago that I'd do lots of revision for the theory test, which I managed to do nothing at all for, so I made a grand effort to do it tonight and managed another 34/35. Yay for me! Just hope I can keep that up when the test comes round! I need to get some serious practice in now because my instructor said he's just gonna book it for me one of these days! Yikes!!

Driving Lesson Number 11.

Yikes!! 11 lessons already, which means I've been learning for 3 months because I've had 2 breaks in all that time due to various reasons!

Well my instructor ticked me off on crossroads last week (which obviously means I'm doing ok with them) and this week he's ticked off turn in the road (or as my husband would shout, "It's a 3 point turn!")

There wasn't an awful lot of progress made today actually as I managed to get stuck behind a bus who was obviously running early and very kindly stopped at the bottom of a hill/bend so I couldn't see round him to see if there was anything coming!! Cue Ailsa sitting at the bottom of a hill like a lemon, watching idiots coming from the side trying to sneak ROUND the bus without being able to see the cars coming the other way!! Eejits. At that point I really thought I was going to witness an accident, but thankfully, it didn't materialise.

So anyway, we managed to get where we wanted to be about 20 minutes before my lesson was due to end (after the bus made 2 more stops, one on a hill!!) and I did 2 more turns in the road on a slight hill before heading home. As my instructor said, not exactly how it was planned, but I overcame a few obstacles along the way, having to do a hillstart and judging speeds when pulling out onto a main road.

There won't be an update next week because my instructor is away so I think I'll have a week of intense theory revision. Well, I'll try anyway...

Driving Lesson Number 10.

Another lesson down and another lesson learnt! Always make sure the handbrake is on fully before releasing the brakes on a hill, especially the steep one I was on today!! I thought I had it fully on, but it must be stiffer than I thought because when I took my foot off the brake I rolled back! Oops... I managed 2 good hill starts though, so I'll just have to remember to yank it harder next time, and especially on my test!

I attempted the crossroads as was mentioned in my last blog too! Well, I'm saying attempted, I thought I did pretty good actually! At one point, I think I should've been a bit further forward before turning because I was a bit close to the white line, but other than that I did ok.

The best thing of all though, I didn't stall when pulling up outside my house!! Hehehehe... More often than not, I've managed to stall it when pulling up because of forgetting about the clutch, but I remembered today, and although I could've been closer to the kerb, I didn't hit our car and got it in the bay! Yay!

I think we're going to focus more on the clutch next week, probably at junctions where I shouldn't need to come to a complete stop. Big pat on the back for me I think! :-D

Oh, think I really should get back into theory and hazard perception revision too! I could be ready for my test quicker than I thought at this rate!