The Smell of Little Pong

Passed!

Hurrah! 12 years after having my first driving lesson I have finally passed my test! I first took lessons at university but never felt comfortable and eventually the lure of various parties and The York Arts Centre got the better of me. I never got round to taking a test.

Then, a few years later, when I had a moved to London, I decided to give it another go. This time I did get round to taking the theory test but eventually the lure of Adrian, who I had just met, proved too great and I stopped taking lessons.

At the end of my maternity leave after having Freyja, I booked some lessons only for the driving instructor to double book himself for my very first lesson and forget to cancel me. It took me a year to get round to arranging lessons again.

Finally, in September last year, I booked some more lessons and yesterday, at last, took and passed my driving test.

It wasn't straight forward though. My test was booked for 10.14am and I was sat in the waiting room, a bundle of nerves, when one examiner came out, called the name of the only other person waiting and then asked me what I was doing there as there were no other tests booked for that time. Oh God! Turned out that my test had been cancelled the day before and I hadn't picked the message up - there was a slot available that afternoon if I wanted it, otherwise I would have to wait until May.

I was very stressed out and upset and thought there was no way I was going to be in the right frame of mind for that afternoon, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise - I'd been really nervous that morning and when we returned in the afternoon I was much calmer. I can't believe how good it feels to have passed - I was nearly in tears I was so happy!

I never really minded not driving until I had Freyja and then it became a bit of an issue - I couldn't easily get to my parents when they were here, trying to juggle a pushchair and umbrella in the pouring rain and the fact that we still had to do the food shopping on the weekend, even though I don't work on Thursdays and Friday, became annoying. And with another on the way (6 weeks to go!) I really felt I had to get my licence. I don't think I'll be driving everywhere now, but it will be nice to have that little bit more freedom. Hurrah! I can't believe how good I feel about it!!

posted by solveig @ 9:19 AM