Tuesday 17 July 2012

First (ever) driving lesson...

Tonight Dad drove me an hour away, to a disused airfield, to show me the basics of driving. At first I did pretty well, managed fine considering I had never, ever driven before until I 'stopped funny' and the car juddered to a halt.

My Dad, bless his soul for trying to teach me, stayed calm but I could feel the tension and it was making me nervous. After that I kept focusing on the accelerator, obsessed with watching the rpm, instead of the clutch and at one point I went over 10mph and seriously panicked. I was trying to ask how to 'brake right' without screaming in sheer panic. It was terrifying.

I drove up the air strip one last time at a reasonable 6mph and remembered how to brake and that was it. I couldn't take any more. I'm pretty sure my dad couldn't either. He shot out of the passenger seat like a bullet.

Even thinking about the experience 2 hours on makes me break out in a cold sweat.

I think I'll stick to public transport for now.

*reaches for the tranquillisers*

2 comments:

  1. It's a lot of moving parts if you've never done it before...and it's extremely frustrating when the car stalls out. I've been driving for over twenty years and I stalled out the other day at a stop sign not thinking about what I was doing.

    It's one of those things that seems like you're never gonna catch on to...until the moment that you do. Then you can't remember not being able to.

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  2. Brilliant! Sounds exactly like the first time I drove with my dad, he took me to an industrial estate, told me how to drive but not how to stop, I drove straight out onto a main road, terrifying, he lost the bap and I did't drive again for 6 years! Lots of years and lessons later, I passed the test, third time lucky! Good luck xx

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