So on Sunday I had a go at driving. I have been putting it off, not intentionally, but Sunday I decided to just go for it. Probably not a good idea when I had PMS but everything is always clearer with hindsight.
We went down to the neighborhood behind us where they are still building as I thought it would be lighter on traffic.
For a while I practised by going round this square they have. It was okay for a first attempt I guess. I mean, I had trouble judging how close I was to the middle of the road but it was okay. My husband was not impressed with my stopping at the stop sign as it was admittedly juddery and I couldn't stop exactly where he wanted me to. I did this for a while and then I was directed out onto the real roads (where traffic was). It was scary. We drove around a bit and I was kind of feeling okay but then we got to the houses right behind where we live. The roads are really narrow and have cars parked on both sides. This is where it all went really wrong. My husband started having a panic attack and shouted at me. He kept saying to go left. Actually it was more like....GO LEFT GO LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT!!!!!! So, I start going left onto the other side of the road but a big red truck is coming straight at me on the left so I go back to the right to get past it. I don't know whether my husband couldn't see this truck coming at me or what but it was a nightmare. We nearly died.
So then I just wanted to get home so we went along the way and my waining confidence was just pulverized. I tried to go up a road but nearly crashed into a parked car and I had to stop and reverse back so I could get by without scratching it. Then we turned the corner and were nearly home. I had to stop the car in front of the gates and I had plenty of room but my husband seemed to think I was planning on driving through them. We got through them safely (surprisingly) and then I got told off for using the indicators when I turned the corner although I thought you were supposed to do this. Then I had to park which I knew I wouldn't be able to do...and I couldn't. I drove up the pavement. I couldn't even be bothered trying to fix it because I was nearly crying so I got out and let my husband fix it and then went inside and cried.
I hate all those people that say....oh driving is easy. No it isn't. It is really hard concentrating on all the different things and trying not to kill people or get myself killed. Plus people in America drive on the opposite side of the road than in England and the cars are all different. Like there is no clutch and the indicator thing is in a different place. Plus I don't know what the road signs mean half the time and have no clue what the speed limits are. So it isn't easy at all and I hate the fact that I HAVE to learn how to do it.
I didn't want to use any of your tags on this blog....I can imagine that is it hard to drive in America especially if you have never done it. I learned when I was 14 and it was just as fucked up back then. When I learned it was part of a class we were required to take before we could enter 10th grade so it was fun for us. But even before we took drivers ed my parents used to take me around and let me practice with their "nice" car. I also practiced with their "nice" car when they went to Hawaii for 8 days and me and my friends were left alone to party hard with zero supervision :) (hello wine coolers!)
ReplyDeleteIn drivers ed however, we learned with brand spanking new automatic cars as well though.....so it wasn't until I was 24 that I learned how to drive a stick shift which took me 3 months of fucked up practice on my own btw...even so though, parallel parking is scary as hell and so is just driving around if you're not used to being on the wrong side of the road!!!
Can you drive to an empty high school parking lot or something to practice? You will get it sooner or later I swear. There is nothing more freeing than being able to drive and drive and drive.....i.e. it takes 14 hours to get from Houston to Fort Collins, get on it girl I know you can do it! :) You still have my complete sympathy though b/c it is something very different and it takes time to learn but I know you can do it. I am cheering for you anyway :)
I know it must be great to drive and if I could just do it without all the practice and learning and stuff I would probably love it, lol. However, I am much better suited too being a passenger as I get distracted a lot. Plus I'm old now and learning is harder.
ReplyDeleteI haven't really had another go since that last episode. I drove from the swimming pool to the apartment but that was just a straight line.
I guess I will have to go to a school and learn from a professional but we don't have the spare money for that at the minute.
I think it will be a while before I could do 14 hours driving, lol. We are going to Tennessee in October and that is I think 12 hours drive. Last time we did it I wanted to die and I wasn't even driving.
Oh, I did enter a competition a while back to win a holiday to somewhere or other in Colorado. If by some chance I should win it you can bet I will be looking you up. We could go get our eyebrows threaded :)