Learning to Drive :: Day Three :: Patience Is a Virtue

This is the car I’m learning in. It’s a Kia. I like it a lot.

Today I started to get quite irked with myself because I keep doing two things that I feel are holding me back. The first is that I keep veering to the left, into the cycle lane if there is one, or towards the verge or kerb if there isn’t. ‘Another dead cyclist,’ my instructor intones, fairly regularly.

The other is that I keep finding the wrong gear. I’m starting to get really annoyed with myself because of this. Which, of course, is not helpful. Plus at the end of today’s session, the instructor gave me some feedback on how best to avoid it, so I should be able to resolve it.

I’m getting aggravated though and I think I need to calm down a bit. I oughtn’t be so self-critical. It’s fine. It’s early days. These things take time. Patience is a virtue. And so on.

Today we drove to Preston along the dual carriageway and I drove at 50 miles an hour for the first time. Nothing to you seasoned drivers of course. Scarily fast to someone who has a tendency to veer into the side of the road and murder a seemingly endless stream of imaginary cyclists. Then there’s the difficulty of readjusting to 20 and 30 just as soon as you’re starting to get used to 50. Then there are those roundabouts that come at you like card tricks, with lanes disappearing up their own sleeves. Then there’s the sickening hell of parallel parking which makes me realise I’ve got no idea where the car actually starts and finishes. Then there’s a million other things that you have to remember every time you’re behind the wheel. Sometimes it starts to feel a just a tiny bit overwhelming.

Despite my minor reservations, however, I know I’m doing OK. So much so that, even yesterday, as soon as I’d passed my theory, my instructor was happy for my test to be booked. Usually they wait till the Monday of the second week to be sure that beginners will be ready in time.

So my test was booked today. It’ll be next Thursday – a day earlier than planned – at 11.20am.

Every time I think of it, my heart starts beating heavier, like when I’m sober and I’m about to sing in front of someone.

Jesus, I wish I wasn’t such a wuss.

I know I can fucking drive.

Anyone can drive.

Jesus.

Ssssshhhhhhhhhhh….

Patience.

 

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