(no subject)

[eiffel_71]

Just come from a driving lesson. Reversing round a corner wasn't too bad, though at the end I was told to use the main mirror as my guide not rely on the side one. The turn in the road would have been OK if I hadn't made the mistake of thinking that, once you've raised your clutch to the bite in readiness for the second leg of the manoeuvre, you can push the clutch down a little, as I have done on ordinary moves to insure against letting it come up too high and cause me to stall. I found out that tactic doesn't work on turns in the road when I took the handbrake off and immediately began rolling forward towards the kerb. Of course, stepping on the gas pedal made no difference, and I had to stop the car and resume the manoeuvre in the middle, not an ideal way to absorb.

The open road driving was satisfactory, until the very end when I was told to park in the parking spaces along our street. I was manoeuvring into the spot at the very end of the row when Peter announced that I'd missed it (I thought I was on target) and got me to reverse in order to come in at a better angle. Possibly because my brain was already in 'lesson ended' mode, having reversed outward to the right, I did my old trick of coming off the clutch while still on the brake and came to a dead stop. Morale shattered, my pulling into the parking bay was an utter shambles. After what hadn't been a bad lesson all round, and after six months, to end like that was damn dispiriting.

Comments

[littlemissalien.livejournal.com]

Hun don't worry! Six months is nothing these days. It took me 11 months, and that was considered 'average'. And I got 7 minors on my test (including forgetting to put the car in gear before attempting a hill start - thankfully I realised the second the car didn't move and quickly resolved it). My sister was learning for nearly that long before she twisted both ankles rather badly and had to take a break - that was 2 and a half years ago now and she's still not gone back to it.

And like I said, I still stall and stuff. AND I mounted the kerb the other day whilst trying to parallel park on our damn hill again, oh for off-road parking! (Probably a must for our next house) If you're anything like me, you'll probably never need to reverse around a corner anyway, lol!

Keep going, you sound like you're doing ok - don't be so hard on yourself!

Thanks for the birthday card btw. Arrived on Monday, but I kept it for Tuesday. :D xxx

[nice-guy-but.livejournal.com]

Mate, I still stall, hit kerbs, have to have several attempts at parking, and I've been driving for 13 years! It took me seven months and three attempts to pass my test. The real test is when you get out on your own! Hang in there :-)