Driving Lesson Number 24.

Well it was business as usual this weekend as I braved the roads once more, with a slightly poorly ankle, but which wasn't enough to stop me!

I was told, quite firmly, that if I felt pain in any shape or form, I was to say so and I would be driven back home, but thankfully I felt not a thing! Hooray!

Where do I start on this weeks lesson then? There was so much crammed in! The beginning would be a good place me thinks!

First off we headed to the test centre for some bay parking. I will admit to totally cocking it up first time, although I didn't hit the yellow line but was totally misaligned! The second attempt was much better but I was still a bit wonky, though no lines touched and I was in the bay!

So next we headed off to Seaton, via the Tesco's roundabout (sigh) and I forgot that the road was a 40 so was quite happily cruising along at 30 till I was prompted otherwise! Hehehehe!

We had a couple of attempts at reversing round a corner but I think I'm just going to resign myself to the fact that I simply won't be able to do them as well in the Clio as I can in the Vectra! It's just not meant to be!

We then headed to Flimby via the horrible back road from Seaton (my instructor DEFINITELY is a sadist because he knows how much I hate that road!!) for a couple of parallel parks. With the first one, I really needn't have even turned the wheel because I was so far away from the kerb!! Tee hee! I did get better though, but I'd still like lots more practice on that, plus the reverse round the corner of course.

So then we headed back to Workington, past Tesco (again!) and somehow ended up back at my house, although I can't actually remember how we got there!! I've just had a memory blank and can't for the life of me remember which way we went!! My god, I think I must've had one too many lager touches last night and it's puddled my insignificant brain!

Anyway, I got home somehow and didn't once stall, hit a kerb or anything! Although I did manage to hit second instead of fourth when coming back down from fifth, but in my defence, I've hardly ever get up to fifth gear because I spend most of my time in the town so ner!!

Next week it's back to mock tests to see what I need to brush up on, even though I can tell you now!

Quick message to all who've asked or are aiming to ask in the near future: No, I haven't put in for my practical yet, and no, I don't know when I will be yet but I sure as hell won't be broadcasting the fact! Of course, there will be an update, whether I fail or I pass...

Come To A Halt...

There won't be an update this weekend as I'm unable to go driving after somehow managing to damage ligaments in my ankle! Apparently it could go back 3 or 4 weeks when I went over on my ankle heading to work, but whenever I've done it, it flipping well hurts like hell now!

Typical really, I wanted to show off my new found reverse round a corner skill!!

Fingers crossed I'm able to go next week...

Bad News I'm Afraid...

I didn't get 35/35 on theory test, BUT...

I did get 34/35 and 60/75 on the hazard perception, meaning that I passed!!

Woohoo!! :-D :-D :-D :-D

A Little Extra Curricular Activity.

Well I managed to get a little practice in our own car today. It took a few minutes to get used to the clutch (what with it being a sports car and all, according to the other half...) because I had to nearly lift my foot up fully before I found the bite!

We were round on an industrial estate so that I could have a little practice in reversing around a corner! The first went a little skewiff and I was miles away from the kerb, but then I got the hang of it and made a perfect one! My hubby being my hubby though, didn't believe that I'd done it that well and decided it was a fluke so made me do it again! Guess what? I did it again! Hehehehe!

He said I was being far too cocky and insisted that I show him a turn in the road as well, which I found extremely hard to do in the confined space that I had, couple with the fact that I was now driving a Vauxhall Vectra and not a Renault Clio!! I didn't manage it in 3 turns, in fact the first time I went onto the kerb apparently, though I didn't feel it, but I did manage it in 5 turns which wasn't bad considering the difference in size!

So that was the end of that. I'll put it on record that he said he was impressed with my driving after 23 lessons and reckons I'm nearly there! Now there's a compliment to behold because they don't come too easy from my fella!! ;-)

Driving Lesson Number 23.

Well I managed to keep my instructor from hijacking the lesson this week and we actually did what was discussed last week! Yippee!!

He got me over my phobia of roundabouts a few weeks back and I think he may now have achieved the same for reversing round a corner!

The first one I did was quite crap to be honest because I didn't get the car lined up properly or anything but I did get better, honest! My main problem has been trying to keep the speed down as I'm turning, which is extremely hard because there are hardly any corners that aren't on some kind of slope, be it large or small!

He also decided that we'd go up a narrow road that is bad for cars coming the other way that you have to pull in for. He said we were going to pretend that there were cars coming the other way so he was going to get me to pull in between cars to let said cars past, though it turned out that plenty cars came anyway, so no pretending was needed!

After a few more reverses round a couple more corners he decided we'd have another couple parallel parks because that's another thing that I'm not too crash hot at, though better than reversing round a corner! The first was a bit fast but I got in and managed better the second time round.

We saw an utterly amazing sight on the way home though! This guy must've been at least 6 foot tall and built like a brick outhouse (for want of a better word!) and he was carrying a child's red and yellow umbrella with some kind of pattern on it!! Hehehehe! Both myself and my instructor were in hysterics, so much so that I forgot to go into 1st gear on a roundabout and almost stalled! Oops! Very funny though! Tee hee!

So we headed for home and I executed a really parallel park over the road from my house, which my husband missed because he didn't know I'd pulled up! D'oh!! Ah well...

Only a few more days till my theory test now so I'll carry on with my swatting and update with the outcome. Hopefully it'll be good news, but who really knows, I could have a memory blank or anything when I sit in front of that computer!!

Shouldn't tempt fate really! Fingers crossed everyone...