Me too! DC how are you getting on with driving?

Also had an amusing coincidence at the driving theory test centre - one of the receptionists there is an old friend of mine from my first job that I left 15 years ago (gulp!) who I had lost touch with (it being pre-mobile, email and Facebook days). The test centre is also by a stroke of luck one minute's walk away behind my work so we are going to meet up for lunch sometime soon

Congratulations Pip.



Not too bad. I'm on about lesson twenty-five and my instructor says I should be ready for the practical test after about another 5 or 6 of them (which should be in about 3 weeks or so). *gulp*



How fortuitous.

_________________
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins

I booked my test earlier this evening - 30th March. *enormous gulp*

I'm pretty OK at most of it but I'm still a bit nervous at roundabouts and stopping/starting on hills, what about you DC?

I suspect the roundabouts around these parts are considerably less intimidating than those in London (as are a lot of other things too, I expect), so fortunately they were relatively straightforward for me to get the hang of. Starting on hills was a trickier prospect though, it just seems to be one of those things you simply have to build experience at to get a feel for how much bite etc. to give it, rather than there being a set procedure you can learn. It's really only in the last lesson or so that I've felt like I've started to truly get the hang of it.

At this point though the only recurring issues I can think of are that I still stall the car at least once a lesson, and I've got a habit of not putting the parking brake all the way down before i pull off or start a manoeuvre. My 'reverse around a corner' isn't perfect either, but it's apparently good enough for a pass, and it does gradually seem to be getting better. The same sort of thing's true for my 'reverse parking' too, but I've had considerably less practice at that, so I'm more confident I can can get it up to proper spec in time (my other two manoeuvres are good though, apparently, especially my 'turn in the road', so fingers crossed the examiner asks me to do one of those on the test).

Apart from those issues though it seems to be a case of getting enough experience down to iron out those little occasional errors that crop up from time to time (like nudging the curb, which I've only done a handful of times but would still count as a serous fault on test) and to make sure I've encountered as many of the potential situations that might crop up on test as I can (like having to pull over for an ambulance or something).

_________________
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins

^ Sounds like we are having a similar experience DC, although you're ahead of me on the bite/hill issue. My three point turn (as it used to be called... I'm a bit Opal Fruits/Starburst about calling it a 'turn in the road' ) is no trouble at all, and my reverse round the corner is fine until the last bit - I don't think I've properly grasped that not all corners are exactly 90° like you might be expecting them to be in your head Reverse parking is coming along nicely and just needs more practice.

Sounds like we may be hitting the road at about the same time!

I'm glad I'm living on this side of the pond.

*shiver*



But seriously, congrats to both of you on taking on new skills. Personally, I love driving. Not city driving so much, but give me an open country road and some good music and I'm about as happy as I can be. Good luck to both of you!

Well, I spent the day on my online school forums discussing why I am a troll, how I am not a bully, and then proceeded to troll a kid who thought he was better than me.

I also avoided History Homework like the plague.

My test has now been officially booked for the 8th of March, at 8:40 in the morning!

_________________
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins

DC: Good luck in your test! Bon courage

Thanks Pip, and I am happy to report that I passed!

_________________
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins

Congrats!

Very well done DC! mine is only three weeks away now so I'd better make it a double success for the INFPverse

How many minors did you get? Any tips for me??

Thanks folks.



We're all rooting for you Pip.



I got four of them (gears, steering, safety while moving off, and appropriate speed), which is considerably less than I thought I'd racked up. So if I do have any advice it's probably "don't let the minor faults get to you, because you're probably not making as many of them as you think you are".

And I don't know what your instructor has told you about the independent driving bit of the test, but it was a lot simpler than mine had made out. All the examiner did was show me a really simple diagram of the next few turns he wanted me to make, and then when we reached the end of that he asked me to keep going on the road we were on and turn off at a particular exit. And that was it, couldn't have been simpler.

I think I did get a bit lucky with my examiner though. Apart from seeming like a nice enough chap anyway, the route he took me on seemed to avoid most of the school-run traffic you get at that time of the day (which made some of the roundabouts a lot easier than they might have been), and the manoeuvre he asked me to do was the old 'turn-in-the-road'/3-point turn, which is my best one.

_________________
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins

Wow - four minors is really impressive. Well done!

I do the odd bit of independent driving with my instructor already, but it only seems to last for about three junctions. My fingers are crossed for the 'turn the car around for me please' manoeuvre which is my best one too.

So, will you be buying a car now? or do you already have a car available for you to use?

I'll be borrowing my dad's car, can't afford one of my own, and honestly I don't need one right now anyway.

_________________
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins

Well done, DC!

Good luck, Pippa!

Good luck tomorrow, Pip!

_________________
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins

Yes, good luck, Pips. Just remember to drive on the wrong side of the road (left) and you'll be fine.

I feel a bit bad for not mentioning it before now but I have postponed my test, to May. I had a terrible lesson two or three weeks ago where I made a number of serious errors and just could not get it together with two out of the three manoeuvres, so I made the decision to postpone it. Sigh... will get there in the end I'm sure.

DC how are you liking the freedom of the roads?

Probably a good idea. Confidence is a big part of your ability to drive. You'll get there!