eiffel_71 | (no subject)

Second driving lesson, in bucketing rain. After a couple of laps of the car park I was just starting to get used to steering - then suddenly I have to learn a new way of doing it! This was 'push-pull' steering. We did figures-of-eight for a while to get me doing full right locks and full left locks, then it was more laps round the car park to put push-pull steering into ordinary use. Needless to say my attempts were rather hairy, but I was starting to get the measure of it by the end. For the second hour, things got complicated as I was introduced to the delights of changing gear. My actual gear lever movement was perfect, but getting all the different pedal movements right, while still mastering push-pull steering, was a different matter. On one occasion I hit the gas instead of the brake, sending the car zooming forward; another time I kept my foot firmly on the clutch for too long, so when I revved up the gas to get above 10 mph nothing happened - until I took my foot off the clutch, then VOOM. Despite all that, Peter reckoned at the end that the lesson had gone well. After, the parents told me I hadn't done anything either of them hadn't done while learning.

Back to college this evening. Did the 10-question practice tests on one of the websites till I was perfect on all four, then Pathenia gave me some written practice tests. After an hour of those, and a quick skim of the textbook on coffee break, I was ready for another crack at the exam. I can't say for sure that I got the 80% I need this time. After completing the exam I checked with the textbook, and while I now know I got one of the questions I was a wee bit unsure about right, I also know I got two of them wrong. But I do think it's possible that I did pass this time. Got a pleasant surprise after when I took out my cheque book only for Pathenia to say that you don't have to pay again to resit a module.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm with your parents - everyone does stuff like that when they're driving! My first five or six lessons, I was dreadful, but once you get the hang of it everything falls into place pretty quickly.

Good luck with the lessons. I agree with the previous comment, we all did that sort of thing while learning. And push-pull steering doesn't usually last long once you've passed your test ;-)