Hello There,
After passing my Driving Theory Test last week I was happy in the knowledge that the next exam I would take (and hopefully my last) would be my Driving Practical Test and, until then, all I had to focus on was my driving lessons and general life as moi. Sound easy right?
So I am now more than eight hours into my driving lessons and things seem to be going well. I have not stalled as much as I thought I was going to and in terms of mounting the kerb and crashing into things there has been a few close calls and even closer encounters. All in all I can feel myself improving with time and experience being behind the wheel and whilst at the end of every lesson my knees, ankles and feet are aching and sore, I have to remember that I would not normally be doing a two-hour stint in a car, an hour maybe tops in most cases. I don't mind driving though. in fact I quite enjoy it. The more hours I do, the more I enjoy it and every time I know I have a lesson that day it really does excite me.
I was and to an extent still am shocked at how other driver react to a learner driver though sometimes. Whilst I have been concentrating on the same patch of Bedford not really venturing outside of those zones until just yesterday on my eighth-hour, I was surprised to see how other road users reacted to my 'L' plates. On rouroundabouts I would be cut-up, undertaken and in some instances bullied whilst trying to stay calm and learn how to use the road in a safe and legal way. Some other impatient road users would swing out into the other lane and against oncoming traffic just to get around me. Despite maintaining and going at the maximum speed limit for the roads it was clearly not enough for other more "experienced" drivers who obviously thought I was beneath them and clearly could not have recalled the days when they were just starting out behind the wheel of a car.
I have kept calm during my lessons however when I have time to sit and think about it and all the things that other people on the road do to try and intimidate learner drivers it really angers me to the point of making my blood boil. Now I can understand if its six-fifteen and little Johnny needs to go to football practise or some shite like that, or that you have had a really long day and the wife is waiting for you to get home with dinner on the table, I get it, I really do. But what I cannot fathom is why you would keep so close to the rear of the instructors car - Is it to indimitate me? Over power me? Show me whose boss? Well sir I shall assure you that once I pass and become a better driver than I am now, then I shall make you pay for living in my exhaust pipe, driving slower than your Granny and making sure you know the laws of the road. Now I must stress that whilst I have been rather lucky in the sense that I have not crashed or injured anyone in the process, apart from maybe a few Audi-owners ego's, there are some very good people on the roads too. You know the ones that stay back from you so as to brake sharply if I suddenly need to change direction or speed.
I am grateful to all car drivers and road users that allow learners to do just that - Learn. Because as with everything, learning is about making mistakes and learning not to do them again and how to improve on it next time. What would the world be if we all never made any mistakes? We would all be robots - A cold shell of greying beige that had nothing between the ears because we'd be pre-programmed to be the same with no flaws or defects. Thinking the same thoughts, feeling the same emotions, doing the same things as everyone else. That's not a world I want to live in. Mistakes are how people grow and get better. I for a fact guarantee, like me, you have made some mistakes in your time - Some good, some bad and probably not all wise. But learning from your impercetions and incorrect ways has made a new and improved version of yourself, hasn't it?
I think I have come to learn that over the last few weeks, you cannot please everyone. Often it is possible to keep a happy medium but the majority of the time it is improbably everyone will go to sleep at the end of the day with a smile on their face. Both inside and outside of my driving instructors car has shown me that it is all about respecting one another and whether it be at your desk or behind the wheel we all deserve the basic level of respect as human beings. Now whilst we are all human and we will all make mistakes every day of our waking lives because of our own individuality, these last few weeks has taught me that it is how we deal with them going forward as well as our reactions and dealings with others that make us learn from these mistakes and mishaps, shaping us all into wiser people today than we were yesterday and becoming even better people tomorrow. Unless you do drive an Audi in which case your probably still going to be a dick.
'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx
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