Action plan rhif pedwar (n° 4 in Welsh) is something I’ve been putting off and putting off and putting off:

Learning to drive!

GET OFF THE ROADS!

I’m not kidding.

I’ve done my test 3 times, failed 3 times, and crashed thrice too — each one getting less severe, showing improvement. I wrote off the first car; the third car, a mere scratch.

In my defense, none of them were entirely my fault.

On my first test I was turning right on a dual carriageway. I was in the right-hand lane, indicating, when this speeding lady went up the back of me. She went into my boot! I failed because ‘I made her slow down’. Obvs, she crashed. On my second, I was going under a bridge when I fancied a closer look at its pillars — little dent, the examiner wasn’t impressed. On my third the examiner (I felt) was too relaxed. He was slouched in seat with knee on dashboard and I aimed for a wall to correct his posture. It worked, no harm done — mere scratch.

Better, see? Improvement!

While a lot of that story is true, a few bits may have been spiced for entertainment purposes. Like the speeding lady. She did exist but she managed to stop in time, just. My attraction to the bridge was an attraction but the dent could only be seen in certain lights. And Mr Relaxed was distracting, and it was my jerk of the wheel before we hit a wall that corrected him.

3 tests, 3 fails — after that I just kind’a lost interest.

There are benefits to driving:

• Get places
• Go places
• Be places

It’s mainly places. Things like the weekly shop get delivered.

• Getting to Kayte’s in Cornwall would be quicker, cheaper, and I wouldn’t have to stand.
• Going to see Myles wouldn’t take an hour+ by foot and train but more like 20 minutes without traffic.
• Being at weddings in silly places not served by buses, a doddle.

Many benefits.

Many places to visit.

It’s just driving. I learnt in a gear but I don’t really understand gears. People say there’s a sound you can hear but I’ve never heard it. It’s even been pointed out to me and no. It all sounds like ‘car’ to me.

So I’m considering learning in an automatic. Pass, get on the road, and then master gears.

Or do I do a few lessons with the gears, see what I think, and then choose?

I don’t know. I don’t like gears. I like the thought of putting it in ‘go’, though, and going.

Further, there’s so much to driving. Kids running out into the road. A big lorry turning. An oblivious driver. And there’s me trying to get to my destination safely. Changing gear, grinding them, and no doubt getting extremely flustered.

(I fluster easily, and bluster too.)

I think I’m decided, automatic. But there are benefits to learning manual —

Oh, I don’t know.

Let’s see what I’ve got to do first. There’s a lot to do before you can pass your test.

1. Provisonal licence — ✔︎ got. I renewed it last year.
2. Theory test — ✔︎ passed. Passed today, woo hoo!
3. Learn to drive & pass — TBC

Ah shit, it’s next.

What to do, what to do, what to do…

Decisons. Hate them.