41 1/4 Hours.
Right, first off... the next person to say, "Won't be long to your test now..." is likely to get a slap! Each time someone mentions it my stomach does somersaults!
Anyway, onto today's lesson. We got pretty much everything squeezed into it today, except a turn in the road and an emergency stop but we'd done both last week anyway and they were fine.
First off it was round to the test centre for some more bay parking. When we got there, someone was already practicing on the side I use, so we went round the back and had a look under the bonnet instead. My instructor pointed out to me where all the things were that I'd need to know - dipstick for checking the engine oil level, header tank for the engine coolant (radiator), windscreen washer reservoir and brake fluid reservoir. He explained how to check and top each thing up (though I did already know, but it didn't hurt to listen again!) and gave me a print out of questions I'm likely to be asked about under the bonnet. Yet more reading! Still, at least I don't have the highway code to worry about, that's all done!
So now it was time for the bay park. I had to make a big swing round to get myself into position, which my instructor then said was very "to the right" which is EXACTLY where I wanted to be! I got 2 perfect parks so it just proved that I wasn't far enough over last week. As long as I'm that close to the bay, I know I'll be fine!
We were all over the place today so this definitely isn't going to be in any kind of order.
We headed for Mossbay and round to my instructor's favourite reverse corner (probably my least favourite!) but discovered that a car was parking in the way so that was the end of that idea! Hehehehe! So we headed back out of Mossbay which I totally messed up because I thought I was at a junction when I wasn't, then thought I was closer to the pavement that I actually was so swung out too much when leaving the next junction! What a mess! We went back round to give it another go. This time though, there was a van parked too close to the junction which was actually a blessing in disguise because I wasn't so close, could see the pavement and got out no problem!
Now because we couldn't reverse at Mossbay, we headed to Seaton instead, via Lillyhall and the town centre, all the time being followed by a black Renault Clio which was in danger of becoming wedged up my rear end!! :angry: It was so close that I couldn't see it's registration plate for the majority of the time and it was REALLY starting to tick me off, especially as it followed me all the way up to where we wanted to be.
There were lots of cars and pedestrians around when we wanted to reverse round the corner so there was lots of waiting before we could begin, then I spotted a dog behind me, but it didn't move off the pavement, thank god!
Now my instructor knows that I hate the Camerton road for getting to Flimby, so you can probably guess where we headed next... Yep, that road!! AAARRRGGGHHH!!! It wasn't actually too bad today, though I did get a little too close to the grass verge after turning off for Flimby, plus there was loads of crap all over the road which didn't help!
Anyway, we got to Flimby and we looked for a parallel park opportunity which we found quite quickly, after I almost stalled the car because I forgot to go into first at a junction, oops.
I got myself all set up and was about to start when a car headed towards me. Now there was nowhere for it to go, unless it planned to head over the pavement but I sat anyway, just to make sure he was going to wait. Once he stopped I got ready to set off again, but then a car came from behind! So now I'm a sitting duck with an audience and starting to feel rather uncomfortable! Usually if I have an audience of even one, I totally mess up the manoeuvre but not this time. I totally nailed it and had a grin like a cheshire cat! I wanted to get out and punch the air with joy, however I controlled myself and simply smiled and said, "...and that's how you do it!" Let's hope I can do it like that on my test!
The one thing that I think evades me now is the junction on the hill by the shops in Seaton and today was no exception! I hadn't slowed down enough before getting to the top so I overshot it, again. I think it's because the hill is smaller than say St Mary's hill in Mossbay so there's a shorter distance for stopping. Anyway, I must remember to mention it next week and we'll give it another go. I've done it once a few weeks back, but never since!
Nothing else exciting really happened after that. We headed back through town, down Murray Road and onto Hagg Hill for the stop junction. No problems there so we headed down towards the train station and then back home. I made the BIG mistake of telling my instructor why I didn't fancy going down a certain road though. It's quite narrow and if you come across another car coming the other way (which happens quite often!) you have to pull in to let them past. So guess which way we'll be going home next week..? Me and my big mouth!! :(
Anyway, onto today's lesson. We got pretty much everything squeezed into it today, except a turn in the road and an emergency stop but we'd done both last week anyway and they were fine.
First off it was round to the test centre for some more bay parking. When we got there, someone was already practicing on the side I use, so we went round the back and had a look under the bonnet instead. My instructor pointed out to me where all the things were that I'd need to know - dipstick for checking the engine oil level, header tank for the engine coolant (radiator), windscreen washer reservoir and brake fluid reservoir. He explained how to check and top each thing up (though I did already know, but it didn't hurt to listen again!) and gave me a print out of questions I'm likely to be asked about under the bonnet. Yet more reading! Still, at least I don't have the highway code to worry about, that's all done!
So now it was time for the bay park. I had to make a big swing round to get myself into position, which my instructor then said was very "to the right" which is EXACTLY where I wanted to be! I got 2 perfect parks so it just proved that I wasn't far enough over last week. As long as I'm that close to the bay, I know I'll be fine!
We were all over the place today so this definitely isn't going to be in any kind of order.
We headed for Mossbay and round to my instructor's favourite reverse corner (probably my least favourite!) but discovered that a car was parking in the way so that was the end of that idea! Hehehehe! So we headed back out of Mossbay which I totally messed up because I thought I was at a junction when I wasn't, then thought I was closer to the pavement that I actually was so swung out too much when leaving the next junction! What a mess! We went back round to give it another go. This time though, there was a van parked too close to the junction which was actually a blessing in disguise because I wasn't so close, could see the pavement and got out no problem!
Now because we couldn't reverse at Mossbay, we headed to Seaton instead, via Lillyhall and the town centre, all the time being followed by a black Renault Clio which was in danger of becoming wedged up my rear end!! :angry: It was so close that I couldn't see it's registration plate for the majority of the time and it was REALLY starting to tick me off, especially as it followed me all the way up to where we wanted to be.
There were lots of cars and pedestrians around when we wanted to reverse round the corner so there was lots of waiting before we could begin, then I spotted a dog behind me, but it didn't move off the pavement, thank god!
Now my instructor knows that I hate the Camerton road for getting to Flimby, so you can probably guess where we headed next... Yep, that road!! AAARRRGGGHHH!!! It wasn't actually too bad today, though I did get a little too close to the grass verge after turning off for Flimby, plus there was loads of crap all over the road which didn't help!
Anyway, we got to Flimby and we looked for a parallel park opportunity which we found quite quickly, after I almost stalled the car because I forgot to go into first at a junction, oops.
I got myself all set up and was about to start when a car headed towards me. Now there was nowhere for it to go, unless it planned to head over the pavement but I sat anyway, just to make sure he was going to wait. Once he stopped I got ready to set off again, but then a car came from behind! So now I'm a sitting duck with an audience and starting to feel rather uncomfortable! Usually if I have an audience of even one, I totally mess up the manoeuvre but not this time. I totally nailed it and had a grin like a cheshire cat! I wanted to get out and punch the air with joy, however I controlled myself and simply smiled and said, "...and that's how you do it!" Let's hope I can do it like that on my test!
The one thing that I think evades me now is the junction on the hill by the shops in Seaton and today was no exception! I hadn't slowed down enough before getting to the top so I overshot it, again. I think it's because the hill is smaller than say St Mary's hill in Mossbay so there's a shorter distance for stopping. Anyway, I must remember to mention it next week and we'll give it another go. I've done it once a few weeks back, but never since!
Nothing else exciting really happened after that. We headed back through town, down Murray Road and onto Hagg Hill for the stop junction. No problems there so we headed down towards the train station and then back home. I made the BIG mistake of telling my instructor why I didn't fancy going down a certain road though. It's quite narrow and if you come across another car coming the other way (which happens quite often!) you have to pull in to let them past. So guess which way we'll be going home next week..? Me and my big mouth!! :(
posted by Ailsa @ 9:50 pm
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