Taking the 'H' out of 'L' plates

I have had to put my driving on to the back burner as my instructor was not able to offer me a lesson this week.

The L plates are sitting forlorn and neglected now in my bedroom and I cannot wait until Tuesday for my official lesson.

Last Thursday I managed to get from Kentish Town to Brighton within two hours for my driving lesson at 6pm. I was as tense as a coiled spring and so consequently my mind was not quite as fresh as it should have been during the lesson. I stalled the car and made quite a number of silly errors.

The lesson focused on pedestrian crossings. I never realised before that cyclists should only cross at a Toucan crossing which my instructor tells me an easy way of remembering is to say 'two can' be crossing. There's also a Pelican crossing, a Puffin Crossing and then the Zebra which is the most easily identifiable pedestrian crossing in my view.

I read a story in the paper yesterday of a young man who has been charged with 'careless' driving as he was responsible for the death of one of his passengers. The girl was not wearing a seat belt but he was travelling at twice the national speed limit in a sports car. He has been given community service and a ban from driving for two years when he will have to re-take his test.

I am not sure whether I think he should pay a higher penalty for what he has done because the girl was not wearing a seat belt which is, of course, illegal these days even for back seat passengers. Stories like this frighten but do not deter me from driving as part of the skill of driving is anticipating idiots on the road.

Oops, I was wrong about the straight line reversing. I was supposed to study reversing around a corner since that is the manoeuvre that could come up in the test. Nevertheless, after a faulty start where I almost reversed in to a parked car, I managed to keep the car level with the rounded curb and complete it unscathed. Without Steve's clear and concise instructions to keep the curb in view in the mirror and not to deviate too close or too far away I do not know where I'd end up.

I am going to make a conscious effort to revise chapters of the book I have already studied because there are little things that are easy to forget, like checking in the main mirror every time I slow down.

Tonight I will be doing straight line reversing and it does not seem so difficult from the instructions in the book, afterall, I have already had a go at reverse parking.

I also keep seeing adverts around Brighton to coax car owners into ditching their cars and getting back on their bikes for the sake of the environment.
Now they tell me. The thrill of driving outways the thrill of cycling but I have to say nothing can beat the feeling of free wheeling on a hot summer's day down one of Brighton's monstrous hills. Pity there ain't too many hot days here.

<>Terrified of the emergency stop I actually performed it 'text book' according to Steve. You just make sure you depress the break first before the clutch.

Should the driver have looked to his left even entering a one way street? Hmmm, there should be a cycling license issued.

Reverse parking went well.  The trick is to reverse your car parallel to the car you wish to park behind so that you can see the rear of their car about half way along the rear left side window of your car. Stop. Then let the clutch up slowly and steer to the left until the car is at 45 degrees, or, as Steve had to explain to me, at about 2 o’clock on an imaginary clock face if the car I was parking behind represents 12 o’clock. Steer to the right and not try to hit the curb allowing room to be able to ease forward to exit your parking space. I did well, even remembering to look all around for hazards when I was supposed to.

Here’s a good resource I found to practice mock theory tests for free: 

www.2pass.co.uk