Driving lessons
I was reminded this morning of my friend Jane's early attempts to drive a car. Her motoring career did not start auspiciously. The car was parked at the back of her parents' house and her brother was giving her a driving lesson. "Switch on the engine and put the car into reverse gear," he said, "Then depress the accelerator slowly and take your foot off the clutch whilst keeping an eye on the wall in the driving mirror and go backwards slowly." Jane was concentrating on the view in the mirror and she saw that the trees in the garden were getting smaller not larger. The car had started forwards with a jolt as she'd mistaken reverse for first gear and they hurtled forwards through the French windows of her parents' sitting room. Here sister had never got out of an armchair so speedily.
posted by Whispering Walls at 9:02 am
4 Comments:
I had an aunt - long since deceased - who never managed to pass her test. After her fourth or fifth attempt, she wrote to my mother, telling her all had gone wonderfully - except she seemed " to have a little difficulty, dear,with getting out of 2nd gear"
Gosh, she must have been terrified! Did she continue with her lessons after that?!
Hi KL - good story.
Hi WL - yes she eventually passed her test and we went driving soon afterwards and realised that the car's tax disc was out of date. We had to fill it with petrol before returning it to her mother and were in rather a panic about being caught by the police. Parking was not one of Jane's fortes so we arrived at the petrol station where she parked about 6 feet wide of the pump and I had to nonchalantly stand with my hand covering the tax disc while she filled the tank.
This reminds me of my learner driver days when I persuaded my brother to take me out on the road in my mother's car without her permission, I was so keen to get behind the wheel. The lane was so narrow that I ended up scraping the side of an oncoming car. I was petrified - and also banned from my mother's car until just before my test. I amazingly passed first time, then also took my Advanced Motorist Test in an MG Midget a few years later. I still enjoy driving. I'm hoping to take my son out for lessons in my car now.
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