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Soooo..

I crashed my car on Tuesday evening.

Nothing serious, just a little bit of paint transfer on the rear wing of the other vehicle; a busted indicator cover for me; a sizeable dent in my front bumper where I likely impacted against the rear wheel; and a bit of dog slaver over my shoes.

I somehow never managed to see the other vehicle as it travelled around the roundabout, so when I pulled out to turn right; he was directly in front of me. As I was moving slowly myself, there wasn’t a bad impact; and no injuries. My car is just built to crumple; and seems to do it really easy.

The other driver was using a courtesy car, due to his own already being in the garage for being in a previous accident; which seems a little suspicious.

Contacted my insurance company, and they are going to sort everything out; and I have no excess to pay since I’m not putting in a claim for repairs, which is nice. I just need to wait for letters, and other pieces, to confirm what is happening.

I also found out the other week that my brother managed to total his car on the way to work, in which the driver in front braked hard; and he hit her whilst swerving. I’m the more fortunate I guess.

Well it must be true what they say, Chef jobs open up during the summer.

So far I have had two interviews this week, the first on Monday, and the second today. This mornings chat was nice and in-formal, but I still wore a shirt.

To see how I cope within a busy kitchen, the Chef has asked me to work this coming Sunday, which is the busiest day of the week. Well I’m all for that. And I earn myself around £40 for the trouble.

If taken on full-time, I will be required to assist in any one of their other businesses; such as a seasonal restaurant in Whitby. That means mini missions trying to find a parking space. .. I will have my petrol paid for though, so if anyone’s in the area . . .

It’s likely, now that I’m almost in a job, that other places will start responding to my letters; and I’ll have to look into which one I’d like to work for and train with.

Either way, I’m still planning on college part-time again for my pastry course.

Driving back from college a few short moments ago (Yay for the active blogging!) I was behind a shiny, but dull looking dark red Corsa; with four lads inside.

Heading out of Marske (I took a longer; but still relatively short; route home) the driver turned out to be an old man, which explains the slow driving.

Once in Redcar, heading past the top end of town, the two lads in the back turn out to be two old ladies.

Indeed, the four lads I thought where in the car initially, happened to be much much older. Like, really old people!

I laughed. Yay for interesting bloggy of the week!

Something else I haven’t wrote about for a while. Driving is sooooo awesome!

The freedom you get from the open road is something which goes unmatched, most likely only rivalled by having a place of your own to live.

There isn’t really much to say, other than my car needs a wash.

Anyone out there taking lessons at the moment, or trying for a test? Post a reply and I’ll give you some personal confidence boosting.

:D

“Get in!” I exclaimed, as the examiner stated “That’s the end of your test and I’m pleased to say you passed”.

OMG! I passed my driving test. *does some weird freaky dance*

I’m in one of those trance states, where I don’t know whether to sit down, or run around yelling. It’s a worse feeling passing, at least with a fail you just have disappointment.

The test lasted around 35 minuets, and covered two manoeuvres; general driving; use of speed; hill starts; stopping and moving off; parking; and a few deep breaths.

I also had some instructors instructor sat in the car with us, meaning an additional body, meaning a little more pressure, actually, I only ever noticed him when I checked my blind spot or he moved his head to the left, popping up into the rear view mirror. It was quite cool I had an extra dude. Makes me feel special.

For some reason, possibly to see if we’re daft, the examiners give us a choice of leaving the centre by the exit or entrance. In my view leaving via the entrance would be a fail. Someone failed.

I left via the exit, but it’s a steep slope so we rolled back a small amount, but I caught it and carried on. At the end of the road I was qued up so was observing if the other learners could get out to the right for me to turn left. Everything is going well.

Along the new road we meet a parked lorry, nice and slow to navigate through and on to the next junction. Here we sit and wait for a break in traffic and the lights to the left to turn in our favour. Once out we head through the lights and pass another five sets before the roundabout, at which we go ahead and then next left. Peeling off slightly into a side lane I’m traveling a little slow, but get there.

A few stops and “Drive on when you’re ready”’s and we come to our first manoeuvre, the left reverse. This is where the focus comes in, and really slow speeds. Observation is good; speed is nice; curb line is curved twice. Humph, not fair (our first corner was occupied by another learner). Although saying that, I nailed it quite happily, I was a bit cautious at one point and had to move the front out a bit as the first curve disappeared. I missed it reversing, and moved out to avoid it just in-case once I was ready to move off again, which was great.

From their our next junction had a bit of traffic, and as I was about to pull out a bus stopped next to us. Bah, I can’t see the four-by-four anymore. So I wait for the bus to leave, then wait a bit more the left to clear and the two cars from the right to somewhat pass before moving off. A steady drive through, watching for turning vehicles; obstructions; pedestrians, who for the first time since I’ve drove that route used the crossing situated in the worst place ever. She left un-maimed.

Further on in the test we had another stop and move off; a hill start at traffic lights; a roundabout; an increase in speed with lack of mirror usage, which was one of my four minors; to much increase in speed, 55mph in a 50mph area, was possibly noticed but went un-marked as I brought the speed down again. Our next roundabout, a small one, was possibly a little to fast around it but I managed to control the route off.

The last part of the test, and the second manoeuvre, saw me turning in the road. Another learner was turning the corner ahead so I decided to wait, I realised that was pointless as she went slow, but the longer I waited; the closer she got; the more un-safe it became for me to move. So I waited nicely. Situated at a near 90′ angle, another learner crawled along. This time she kept coming. Is she stopping or going round me? *checks to the right* She’s still coming. *glares at her* Still coming. *checks right again* Oh, she stopped now. *carries on with manoeuvre*

As I was about to move off I couldn’t decide if my back wheel was on the edge of the curb. The hand-brake was off and we weren’t moving. I was lucky to get away with that if it was. Phew.

Once through this part we head back to the test centre and park up, pulling straight in as I don’t need to do a third manoeuvre.

Securing the vehicle and switching the engine off I breath a sigh of “thank f00k it’s done with”. I’m met with the greatest sentence since “It’s a baby girl/boy”. As we all know that moment of farther-hood is the best feeling ever.

I now have my pass certificate, with my license heading off to be changed, and am about to go car shopping later today with my mam. How cool is that.

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss! I’m grinning madly writing this. Haha, wooooo.

Well I have had yet another driving lesson today, in the sunny sunshine.

This lesson was most possibly by far the best I’ve had yet, and I’ve had a few.

There wasn’t as nearly as many slight mishaps as their normally is, with observing and concentrating, which is great. That shows I’m advancing my skills, when I’m awake and refreshed.

I think I’ll have to get up early more often, instead of an hour or two before going out. Wow, that is bad. In fact, that is terrible.

From now on I promise to get up early .. well, for the next few weeks anyway. I’ll soon forget about this and sleep in late again.

My turn in the road has come along brilliantly, if you’ve followed this category for sometime you may know this was never my strong point on the tests.

I have somewhat managed to understand the bay parking and the parallel parking, with both of today’s attempts completed successfully without hesitation or delay.

Next week I get to mission off around the main motorway again, I haven’t been on it for a few weeks. That should be fun. Mental note: if turning right, get on the roundabout; go slow; hug left hand line; peel left after third exit; stop at lights if necessary; exit at fourth, taking care to notice any idiot to the left. I hate that roundabout!

I still don’t have anyone to go out in my spare time with. No-one wants me to destroy their car, it’s un-fair.

Since I haven’t blogged in this section for a while.

Went out for a lesson this evening and it was a good one. As I do two hours, it felt like forever. I noticed the clock at about 17:14pm and was like “woaaah” I’d not been out long, but felt like it was close to the end of the lesson.

Throughout the lesson there was one issue of wrong direction, where I actually went left instead of following the road ahead, which actually curved right. St00pid road designers.

My turn in the road has come along nicely, and I’m now more confident at it. The general driving is good, but has room for improvement.

What I hate is other in-considerate drivers thinking they can burn us learners, until they’re left behind that is.

Well what an eventful week. I shall be writing a series of entries over the next two days about everything that has happened.

Third topic: Increased confidence.

Over the past month I have been back behind the learner wheel with a new instructor. This time around I’m learning a lot more and increasing my confidence as well as my ability to drive.

A few of the teachings are new, and some are different to my previous instructor, which is all good.

Having chosen to take two hour lessons, due to not being able to learn anything within one hour, I feel I made a wise choice.

I will think about booking in another test soon, as my turn in the road maneuver has improved, along with my general driving.

There are a few iffy bits though, but those can be worked out over the coming month.

Hmm, I never really thought much about learning to drive again due to my financial situation, and by situation I basically mean I have no monies.
I decided to phone up BSM and book a few lessons in on a weekly basis since I can’t afford to bulk buy, and I have my second first lesson next Friday, the 9th of May.

Having been with a self-employed driving instructor before I quickly decided not to do it again, I know they’re cheaper but you can’t put a price on passing really. Well, £60* for the test and something around £1500 for lessons.
So all in all it’s going to be an expensive venture, again! /stabs

Can’t say I’m itching to drive a Corsa though, pftt. But they are small and nippy, so we’ll see how it goes.

*Someone bumped the price up since the last time I went. I like it how every company thinks everyone has access to bottomless pits of money.

The last month has been a weired one for me. There has somehow been a lot of work to do lately, be it physical work on my placement or online work with my websites, which has managed to take over my life.
Due to this I haven’t had the chance to book in a driving lesson. On the practical test I eventually booked I messed up and failed on the ‘turn in the road’, which is a big disappointment.
I have decided to change my instructors and go with BSM like I was going to in the first place. Those guys and girls will do everything to get me through the practical test, knowing about my last one and the fact they are always fully booked and busy.

Not too sure when I will phone them up, may wait around a month when my placement has finished. That way there wont be specific times I need to choose.

I shall update when necessary, until then it’s back to work.