It’s no secret, I hate driving, after spending thousands of pounds learning to drive and passing my test 3 years ago, I still don’t feel comfortable being out on the road.
I don’t know what it is, but I guess it’s some kind of anxiety problem or lack of confidence that stops me from being a “competent driver”.
My husband however feels differently, he has been in the car with me, and surprisingly he hasn’t shouted at me once or even criticized the way drive, or maybe he’s just scared of what the consequences would be if he dares open his mouth.
“You’re a great driver, I don’t know what you’re so worried for. I think you just need to do it a lot more, then maybe you’ll be a lot more confident.”
In a way I believe him, I’ve never had a bump and I always follow the rules, nor I’m too slow or reckless. So I don’t know why the idea brings me out in cold sweats. To be honest it wouldn’t bother me one bit, if I never had to drive again, but I know that’s not the answer to my problem, I’m a perfectionist, I hate the idea of feeling incompetent, to be seen as a failure, especially with something so easy as driving a car.
Ever since moving to the country, there has been one problem I’ve been trying to conquer. HILLS… yes, and lots of them. Rolling ones, big ones, small ones and even bendy ones. I learnt how to drive in the city, and the flat lands, so hills are new to me, I didn’t think it would cause another driving dilemma but it has, as I found out last week.
I had to take my daughter for her doctors appointment, OK, a routine trip, straight road, just over a mile away, what’s the worse thing that can happen? This time I wasn’t as anxious, I’m familiar with the route, I left with plenty of time to spare so there’s no pressure.
On arriving at the small car park, I noticed that it was pretty full so I decided to do a three point turn in order to look for a free space on the other side, upon doing this I realised that the car park was on a slope, and my car was slowly rolling down towards a parked car. I put the handbrake on and geared my car onto reverse. I was starting to panic at this time, because it was a pretty tight spot, and I knew that I had to maneuver my car back and out without scraping any other cars on the way. As I looked to my right, I also noticed a growing queue of people watching me make a ass of myself, obviously this added more pressure which made me panic just a little bit!
OK, foot on clutch, reverse gear, level, more gas…. nope… my car is still rolling. Stalled. After a few unmentionable words, and my daughters ghastly expression, I started the car again. Reverse, don’t hit the car behind you…. and don’t roll towards the car in front of you. Stalled. Look to the right… 6 cars waiting for me to get myself out of this mess, probably pointing and laughing at the useless woman driver. Yep, that’s me indeed.
After about 5 attempts, I had to admit that I’m not going to get out of this mess on my own, and the line of cars were growing and I really don’t need an audience right now.
I knew I was at an embarrassing situation when I had to ask the help of another driver. I approached his car with a smile, wishing that this man would take pity on me.
“Excuse me, I hope you don’t mind but do you think you could give me a hand and reverse my car for me?”
Do you know how painful that was? To actually admit that you’re a total ass when it comes to reversing up a hill? Not only does the man oblige, but I the whole queue were actually watching me, noting my expression and utter incompetence.
After getting me out of trouble, I quickly thanked the Good Samaritan and fled the scene as soon as possible, at that moment wishing I had tinted windows to save me from further embarrassment and the shameful thought that someone I know might just recognize me.
There I was picking up what was left of my pride after experiencing the most embarrassing moment of my life, I finally got to park my car and now were headed for the doctors 10 minutes later than scheduled. I breathe a sigh of relief and thanked my lucky stars that I didn’t manage to cause any accidents or endure verbal abuse.
Now, I can forget about it and just pretend that the whole thing was just a bad dream, only when the dream was turned into reality again when I opened the waiting room door and saw everyone from the car park including the Good Samaritan, sitting there patiently waiting for their appointments looking at me with knowing grins on their faces. Unfortunately, even though I wished hard, the ground didn’t open up to swallow me.
A new ordnance suvrvey mapping site, where you can view both arial and street side by side. Pretty useful if you are looking for hidden footpaths, routes for hiking, cycling horse riding etc. It also displays GPS logs. It is also intended for teaching between OS mapping and the real world.
Check the site out Where is the Path Read More
So, it’s been nearly 3 years since I passed my driving test. Third time around and two minors, so I really should be pretty proud of myself. I can remember the day so clearly, I was in tears before I even left the house, my poor instructor must have thought he had the short end of the stick.
You should think that after all this time I should be giving Lewis Hamilton a run for his money. Yeah right! I’m ashamed to admit that I STILL CANT park, and the most annoying thing of all is I take it very personally if someone over takes me. Many times I wished that guns are legal in this country so I can blow the next joker who tries to pull one over me.
So is it really that bad? Well let me tell you, I was parking (or attempting to park) in a shopping centre, I swore blind to myself while shunting back and forth that the space I picked was not big enough to park a kids pedal bike.
After about 2 minutes of swearing and frustration, I managed to sit my car comfortably between two cars, upon getting out, I noticed that the car on my left hand side had a rather large scrape along the side. But then I also noticed that my car had no indication that it had damaged the other vehicle.
Feeling confused and scared, I ran in the shop like a desperate mad woman and got whatever I needed to get, so I can then plan my quick escape. I was sure that some man was going to come towards me hurling abuse about the damage that I’ve done to his car.
While driving back home, I was trying to console myself, reasoning out, that I didn’t scrape his car. I doubt that I have, my car was OK, if it was the case my car would be also damaged right?
After this ‘minor’ incident I didn’t drive for over a week. And until this time, I’m still trying to tell myself that the scratch on the other persons car was already there. Or was it?
Maybe next time I’ll take the bus.
