Driving update: THE LAST

[nanila]

For the past eight months, I have been practising to take the UK practical driving test. I've spent over 100 hours behind the wheel - not an easy logistical feat when you cannot drive unsupervised, your partner works full time, you have two children under the age of three and you're breastfeeding. I've had one supremely unhelpful instructor and one very helpful instructor (whom I didn't even have to pay, because he's the bloke).(Re-)learning to drive has been stressful, time-consuming and expensive.

But lo, it has all been worth it, for today I passed my UK driving test with four minor faults.

Let me repeat that in my American voice. HOLY SHIT I PASSED MY UK PRACTICAL DRIVING TEST!!!11!!11!!!ELEVENTY!!! YESSSS \o/ \o/

It is almost exactly 19 years to the day since I passed my US driving test. If there be any non-Brits amongst you who are scratching your heads about why I needed to take the test again, please know that the UK driving test is one of the toughest, if not the most difficult, in the world. They do not accept that you know how to drive in the UK if you can drive in the US. And, having been through both tests and driven extensively in both countries, I can say that they are 100% correct about this. I'm a far better - more attentive more flexible - driver now. I can drive on either side of the road, as appropriate. I can drive a manual (petrol or diesel) or an automatic car. My clutch control is good and will hopefully improve further in the coming months.

Right, so. Enough of this; I'll write more about the exam itself later. I have had a celebratory lunch and it's almost time for a celebratory evening drink. TO THE PUB!

Comments

[untonuggan]

WOOO GO YOU.

My mom told me stories about UK driving instructors standing a matchbox on end behind your back wheel and making people in manual transmissions do hill starts. IDK if that is true, but I do know here they are phasing out mandatory parallel parking in a lot of driving tests "because those skills are tested in other areas." So, yup. I believe it.

[perennialanna]

Yes. Hill starts, in a manual, fourth lesson. Which was challenging (I live in Norfolk. As Noel Coward remarked, "Very flat, Norfolk". So you do at least get to practice your hill starts on the same hill the examiner will direct you to during your test, because it's the only hill for miles and miles and miles). Do you mean other countries don't expect you to do that?

[ursula]

Yay!!

[nanila]

Thank you! I went for my first "solo" (baby in the back, naturally) drive today. \o/

[weaverbird]

YAY! Congratulations!!!!

[nanila]

Thank you! I'm so happy. :D

[nickbarlow]

Congratulations! Now join the rest of us in forgetting everything you had to learn almost immediately...

(I was told once - years ago - that one of the reason Americans have to retake the test in the UK is because in most other countries you can't get a full licence if you take the test in an automatic)

[delight]

My mother has a UK license (she's Canadian, Dad's USian, I've never even been to the UK) and she told me she basically changed every setting in the car immediately after the road test because how they want you to have things and how you want to have things are extremely different ...

I didn't take my US test in an automatic. I wonder if that's actually true; now I'm curious if I'd be allowed to drive in the UK.

[quoththeravyn]

\o/

[nanila]

Whee! I went grocery shopping on my own today for my inaugural "solo" drive.

[ceb]

AAAAAAAexcitement! So glad you can tick that off and move on with your life :-)

[nanila]

Oh lordy yes. It's been such a bugbear for so long. I'm still adjusting to not having that stress at the back (or front) of my mind because it's been there for years.

[legionseagle]

Well done!

[nanila]

Thank you! \o/

[azurelunatic]

Yay!!!

[nanila]

HUZZAH!!!111!!!!ELEVENTY!

[hilarita]

Yay! Congratulations1

[nanila]

Thank you! \o/

[cxcvi]

Congratulations!

Yes, indeed, go have a drink. Just... don't drive afterwards. Or putt.

[nanila]

Thank you!

Fortunately, the pub in question is 150 metres from our front door. Driving there would be silly.

[nou]

YOU DID IT!!!! Congratulations!

[nanila]

Thank you! I'm so happy! :D

[yvi]

Congratulations! Go you!

[nanila]

Thank you! I can go so many places now. Am starting small and local - apart from this weekend, when we went to London. But that was with the bloke.

[delight]

This calls for a happy kitten gif, but alas I don't have one handy because of being at work, so:

[existential happy kitten gif!!!]

[nanila]

Classic Happy Kitten says thank you! :D

[soliano]

Congratulations! I took my US test in a manual and can drive both. I actually prefer a manual, but then I live in nice flat Florida and hills are not a big deal. I did have to drive one in San Diego once and understood what the difference is. So Huzzah! for learning how to do both.

[untonuggan]

I prefer manual as well, but post-fibromyalgia diagnosis my joints do not. However it is way better in snow/ice which I would imagine is not something you have to deal with as much. :)

[perennialanna]

Congratulations!

[nanila]

Thank you! I'm so very glad to be finished, finally.

[clanwilliam]

Wooo! Congratulations!

[nanila]

Thank you! \o/

[uninvitedcat]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[nanila]

THANK YOU!!! :D :D

[rmc28]

HURRAH!

(the downside is you now have to drive)

[nanila]

YAAAAAY!

(I don't mind driving now, so long as the bloke doesn't suddenly decide that I owe him several years' worth of driving...! :P)

[lurkingcat]

Hurrah! Congratulations :)

[nanila]

Thank you! It's so good to have that long-term stress finally removed. I'm still adjusting to it. I've been carrying that around for years.

[silveradept]

Congratulations on passing the test. Now you don't have to worry about passing the test - just whether everybody else on the road passed theirs.

[nanila]

Ahaha, I already spend a certain amount of time on each drive wondering how certain drivers managed to pass - or if, indeed, they did!

[sunflowerinrain]

Excellent! Congratulations :)

I know what it's like, trying to learn to drive when you can't comfortably fit the bump behind the steering wheel, and then taking test(s) with small children and leaking boobs! Well done for getting through.

[nanila]

Thank you! *fist-bump of solidarity* Yes, learning certainly didn't take place under the most relaxed circumstances. I'm very happy to have managed it at last.

[quinara]

Congratulations!!!! Just don't drive home from the pub...!

[nanila]

Thank you! (Hat-tip for on point icon deployment.)

Driving home from our local would be silly, as it's 150 metres from our front door. :D

[thamesynne]

Yay! *high fives* I'm so pleased for you!

And envious, given that I will never be able to drive, ever. But that good kind of envious. ;-)

[nanila]

*high-fives back* Thank you! I'm very happy to have had that stressor removed. It's been at the back (and the front) of my mind for years. I'm still adjusting to its absence.

[hunningham]

Congratulations! It took me three goes to pass the test myself and so much stress and anxiety.

[nanila]

Thank you! I'm glad you got through it eventually too. It's weird when the stress and anxiety are suddenly lifted, isn't it? Especially when you've been experiencing them for months (or years).

[pulchritude]

Congrats! :D

[nanila]

Thank you!!