Driving Is Hard...

Au contraire. Not really. Once you get used to it.

Four lessons already & I still haven't passed my Final Theory. Bloody CDC is eating up my money. While taking the trial tests, I bumped into my cousin, Nora, whom was also there for the same reason I was. Except that she had begun her lessons earlier than myself. A total greenhorn, Nora covered the basics with me on what she'd learnt so far & a little warning for myself to be wary of gatal & chikopek instructors.

Nor, herself, had just experienced one such example that morning during her practical lesson before she went for her theory trials. My first lesson however, started right after those trials. And so it was that Nora's instructor was being obnoxiously gatal & even offered to buy her a drink after the lesson. Which, of course, she refused.

Surprisingly, most of the instructors were of the middle-aged, somewhat like father figures or somewhere along those lines. But that didn't mean there weren't those who would pass up the chance to show off their lousy pickup line skills, Nora explained.

So far, I haven't encountered any of those & told Nora gleefully so the next time I saw her after my fourth lesson. Apparently, our lessons began at the same time but Nora had arrived at the centre first & when she was searching for her car, she happened to glance at my name & wanted to SMS me which car I had been entitled to.

But well, y'all know I don't have a handphone, dontcha?? *grins widely*

So anywayz, Lesson 1 & 2, got this guy called Gilbert whom taught me the very basics. Quite unfortunately, both my lessons were done while the rain was pouring down & for both lessons, whenever we changed sides as to whom was going to be in the driver's seat, this lazy bag of bones efficiently just switched by heaving himself up from driver to passenger seat in five seconds flat while I had to go around the car in the drizzle.

And he still had the gall to ask if I needed an umbrella. I figured, if I had said yes, I'd probably have used it to whack him on the shins or something.

The first lesson was pretty much identifying the equipment inside the car, since it was raining. So, I knew the difference between the handbrake, footbrake & the clutch pedal. We also did endless amounts of forward & reverse until my head ached, because during reverse, you had to look over your left shoulder to check on your blind spots.

So, to start the car, you have to first ensure that the ball of your left foot is depressed firmly into the clutch pedal with the handbrake pulled up, making sure that the stick shift is positioned at neutral. So, turn on the engine -with your left foot still depressed- and lift up the handbrake.

Still having the clutch depressed, move the stick to first gear & slowly let go of the clutch while depressing the ball of your right foot on the accelerator very, very slightly until you hear a nice purr coming from the engine. Count, one thousand & one, one thousand & two, one thousand & three before slowly lifting the clutch & gently depressing the accelarator.

When stopping, tap very lightly on the brake & depress the clutch fully. Holding on to the brake for too long without clutching will cause the car to stall. Trust me, I've experienced it about twenty or so times or more. And when you brake too hard, your car will jerk. And yep, done that one, too.

Easy, peasy, right??

Not at first. But, it pretty much got better after that first lesson.

On the second lesson, I did the right-hand bends inside the circuit where I pretty much turned right every ten seconds or so. But since I was kinda inept at those because that stupid Gilbert pretty much snoozed while I was driving & so declared me half-inept, he didn't fully teach me the whole module. So, the full lesson of bends were taught to me on my third lesson where, Dave, was a much better instructor.

I think he gave me more confidence & ability in driving than I gave myself credit for. I found myself relaxing more, but still kinda jerking on the brakes. That, was something I needed to practice by myself, I noted. He was the one who explained to me what would happened to the car if the clutch wasn't depressed properly or released too early.

Yes, the car would stall.

During Dave's lesson, I overcame my right-hand bends & moved on to the left-sided ones, or the sharper bends. The right ones were just bends, but the left ones were much tougher because the curbs were more difficult to see & gauge. And I also managed to keep my car centered most of the time, unlike my first two lessons where my car kept going to the left side of the road.

*blows out frustrated sigh*

Dave guided my through, saying that if out of ten of the sharper beds that I made & passed at least seven of those, I was going to be fine. And I did!! I did the sharper bends with a method called compromising, where while even though I sometimes turned in too early or too much & returned the steering wheel a tad too late, I could instinctively manouver myself quickly to avoid going off-lane or, coming into contact with an oncoming vehicle if there happened to be one present.

It wasn't the best of techniques, but for starters, it worked well & Dave gave me the stamp after my bends & sharper bends completion.

My fourth lesson was with this guy called Raymond, whose first remark on my retro-type shoelaces sparked off a nice beginning. His job was to teach me about gear-shifting & even threw in better tips for my bend-turning into the mix.

Now, for the first three lessons, my relationship with the shift stick was not a pretty one. I never neglected to 'use force' so to speak, while changing gears & that lesson was no different. But this time, Raymond told me that there was no need to apply much pressure on the stick; just a quick change with the palm would do. And NOT by using all five fingers AND palm to do it.

And did you know that while changing gears, you are NOT, in any case, look down at the shift stick; your eyes must constantly be stuck to the road & obviously, you need to change gears in about three seconds flat.

Very tricky, I know. But of course, after ten rounds or so in the circuit, I had the stick eating out the palm of my hand.

Ostensibly, I was supposed to be out of the circuit & onto the road outside CDC, but due to the fact that I hadn't acquired for myself a PDL, the instructor had no choice but to limit my driving inside the circuit. And I had to go get myself a PDL before my next lesson, it seemed.

Bah!! And there goes another $25 down the proverbial drain...

Laterz...
Lenny Chubby Dean GodGilla Xabs