Today, I had my first driving lesson. This was kinda different to what others I know have done, because I've had it when I'm nearly 18 (within 3 months); I sent for my provisional driving licence two months after my birthday in October, and have put it off intentionally until the college summer holidays; I've been in vehicles before (cars, go-karts, etc) and to call me reckless is likely saying that Hitler's bad; it's one hell of an understatement I just to jump through tyre barriers in a go-kart to skip half the track But I digress - Today, I just had it.
It was arranged last Friday with my instructor on the phone. We said today, 8:30 in the evening, outside my house. When I put the phone down, I suddenly remembered that the college council of which I'm part of agreed three weeks earlier that we'd all meet up to play Laser Quest (Side note - The bill, £300, was paid for by the college as this was supposed to be a "teambuilding exercise"...so they armed us with guns and made us shoot each other ) on that same day, 4pm til 8. Anyone half-decent with maths will figure out that it meant that I'd have had to get out of town and back home within half an hour.
I rang up my instructor, and asked if we could arrange another time. He suggested that we change the place to meet up. Nearest significant place was the People's Stadium, a stadium still under construction for the Warrington Wolves. That was the place. Sunday, I go round it and see that due to its size, trying to find him would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack; either it'd be impossible, or it'd be painful Just yesterday, we decided to stick to the old plan; outside my house.
So I make my way to Laser Quest, but there's one thing which I've loved...until now - Around my area, it's been nothing but sun the past week. It's already boiling, and now (any LQ regulars would know), inside Laser Quest it's black, it's dark, it's stuffy, and you're bound to get sweaty. I did, and while getting some good scores in the 10+ games, I was suffering a bit - Sweating so much that it was getting into my eyes and I couldn't see made me submit in the second game, I have all kinds of scratches and bumps by diving for scenery, and in the last game I hit my right big toe against a heavy wooden part; still hurts, though I'm not sure whether it was broken.
Why am I saying this? Because I had to live through them in the lesson as well. But anyway, back to the point
I met up with him finally, and we went to part nearby. Today's learning grounds was a fairly long, quiet road between two roundabouts; perfect for learning the basics. Thing was it became obvious that I needed to learn a lot after it; my work with the steering wheel, especially with turning around a roundabout (hands doing the 6 o' clock, 12 o' clock movement) left a lot to be desired; half the time I was heading out the roundabouts to fields, other times I clipped the paved work in the centre. >_<
Pedal work was even worse - I was pushing too hard & too fast on the pedals - too much on the accelerator meant going too fast, too much on the clutch meant I was shuddering all over the place, and too much on the break meant the same but stopping.
But I was improving by the end :-)
I was generally pushing and pulling things too hard; I'm guessing it was because of being buzzed from the Laser Quest. Moral of the story - Don't shoot your fellow college council members and have your first driving lesson at the same time.
This story kinda got me wondering; what was everyone else's first driving lessons like? There must be some good stories in them.
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