Learning to be a driver with Lucy

About 27 years ago I owned a mini, having bought it from a car auction. Unfortunately it was a bad experience after a matter one just one week things began to go wrong. The steering suddenly became pretty loose, then the clutch went and after having some work done on it pushing the clutch down was like kicking a medicine ball. In an attempt to try and find out what else was wrong with the thing I managed to get a friend of a friend to see if it would pass an MOT. After which I was then told the rear suspension had also gone. The only thing I could do then was to have the car towed back home. After a short while I returned it to the car auction and of course this was a loss 50% of it's value had been lost and my thoughts were there really was no need for me to have a car any further. I could get a bus to work and the thing just seemed to be a money pit. It made good financial sense, my foray into the world of personal mobility was not more.

This event meant there was no real opportunity for me to gain driving experience. Proudly I had passed my test first time and there had not been many people I'd heard of who managed this, but not actually driving really meant I had never been a driver. It is I believe a skill which takes time to learn and a certain awareness. Understanding the road, your car and the rules of the road, not forgetting there are also many drivers who also pretty poor. They will do things which are inappropriate but get away with them. I have now bought my own car and am practising driving, doing my best to understand the car and to improve my skills, there is a mixture of apprehension, fear and excitement as well as a good feeling which comes about by just driving and enjoying it. I do have to concentrate a lot while driving but I also do find it is something I like to do.

The initial fear has been getting into the car on my own, I have no one to guide me and have not considered asking work colleagues. Most days I do get in and do have a drive, even if the drive is a short one of only a couple of miles. But in my mind it is a necessity I must get out and do it. After all what is the use of having a car which is doing nothing but getting dusty in the garage. It's cost a lot of money and more than a third of the cost has gone on insurance. A ridiculous amount but is understandable, there is a greater risk for a driver who has no driving years under the belt.

Learning the ABC of getting around is slow, so for the time being I keep to as many local roads as possible, stretching the boundary of my known area gradually. Not knowing where to go is a pain.  It is bad enough driving but trying to recognise the roads and directions after hours on google maps is just as difficult. The matter of confidence is not just one of driving skills it is also one of knowledge. As a consequence I've spent hours looking at satnavs on youtube and have been reading up reviews. Yet also having a satnav in the car and following it's directions would no doubt be another skill to learn. Further roads today are a lot different from roads so long ago. There appear to be many more traffic rules than there used to be, many more speed restrictions and certainly a load more humps in the road. In the first week I may well have broken a couple of speed limits and could of been captured on camera, but so far there have been no brown envelopes in the door. I wonder if it is a matter of time before they turn up as perhaps the car has not been registered yet by the DVLC and the postman is presently holding on to them. We'll see, for it is not only a tomtom I've been checking out in my spare time. Camera laser detectors as well.

So about three weeks have passed. My car who I now refer to as Lucy is beautiful, she might be a few years old but she is beautiful in my eyes. She is a fiat grande punto eleganza and gets whistled at every time I see her.