Horses must be easier

[schneefink]

I had my first driving lesson today! Not an "official" driving lesson, just with my father on the practice grounds. The car is still undamaged, success! My heart rate, however, took a while to settle. Starting was difficult enough, and it was a small training ground, so there wasn't much time to get used to get used to driving before the first bends. Nobody told me how complicated the stupid clutch is :( And that there would be so many motorcycles around. Twenty minutes driving was more than enough.
In a few weeks I should be able to (more or less) comfortably drive a car. Wow.

I finished all the theory classes, finally. Fortunately they were a bit less boring than LB said they were. It's very strange to constantly hear "for the theory exam you have to say x, but in real life you have to do y" - which morons designed the theoretical test? Experts at the ministry. That explains it.

Comments

[darkicedragon]

\o/ :D

[jae]

Driving is hard! I have a driver's license, but I don't have a car, so I don't drive very often, and I get less and less secure about it as the last time I drove is further and further in the past.

But go you for getting your license! It really is a good idea, just in case, even if you don't want to own a car.

-J

[schneefink]

First a car, next a spaceship! Right? ;)

[schneefink]

I don't need or particularly want a car, my city has very good public transport. That's why I waited so long to get my license. But I'd rather practice now than in a year or so, when my father wants to get a new car ;)
And I imagine it could be a useful option sometimes, to know that I could do it. I just have to remember to practice every once in a while...

[naye]

Oooh, the first bit of driving is so scary. You have to think about every single thing and you're sitting in this heavy death machine that could suddenly leap forward and flatten some innocent pedestrian and you have to look everywhere at once but how can you do that when you also need to change gears and check your speed and-- and that's when you get the elevated pulse and the cold sweat and the this is terrifying. Yep. I remember. *hugs*

The good news is that it gets easier! It gets easier almost straight away, because cars are built to be easy to drive (even if the clutch thing is a bit of a pain), and they don't have a mind of their own and you'll soon begin to feel where your car is and where the clutch is and what pedals need to be pushed and what gear you need to be in when. I'm still a bit scared sometimes when I realize I'm out in a car all by myself and what if I kill someone but really, once you get a feel for it, you actually do know how to drive. And nobody else wants to have an accident, either, so that helps! (Though you'll start noticing how many idiots are on the road, and they won't ever go away. Sorry.)

Good luck! I'm glad you're doing this now - you'll feel very accomplished in a couple of months when you look back to this entry. :D

[schneefink]

It is! I was so glad I made my first tries on a practice ground. In front of the driving school is a real street, with other cars and pedestrians and all that, that must be even worse. Everything has to be done right at the same time or you cause an accident, aaargh. *hugs back*

Thanks for the encouragement! I told myself that if some of those idiots I see on the streets some days can get a driving license, so can I. And despite my nerves and a brief detour through a grass patch I don't think I did too badly today. I can do this :)

[jae]

Yeah, I have the same problem! And because I'm a nervous driver, the longer I go without getting behind the wheel, the scarier it feels. But you've given me an impetus here. Maybe I'll borrow my partner's car and drive somewhere this weekend. :)

-J

[darkicedragon]

The TARDISSSSSS. ;D

(I think it would be really hard to drive a leviathan? I can't remember the exact relationship with their pilot though, so. XD;;)

[schneefink]

I wouldn't want to pilot a leviathan, but that's the only pretty spaceship icon I have ;)

Not sure about the TARDIS, either: it's extremely complicated to fly and frequently doesn't work right. On the other hand, time AND space!

[schneefink]

Have fun, and good luck that there aren't many stupid people on the road! :)

[darkicedragon]

XD

8D Definitely time and space. And they're both living ships as well. :3 And the TARDIS should get you to your destination faster, no matter the route you ended up taking to get there. XDD;;

[schneefink]

Theoretically! It doesn't always work. Hm, I have to go back and check how reliable the Heart of Gold is... ;)

[amnisias.livejournal.com]

I guess you're right, it's so much harder to total somebody else's horse without your's ending up in a similar conditions. ;)

I'm suprised to hear you say your teacher told you to do things differently in real life than the exam. Ours just the other way around, he was all about safe, defensive driving, particularly with the boys who were already having wet dreams about speeing down the motorway. Most driving instructors who've been around long enough to have a resonable list of clients who killed or severly injured themselves within the first 12 month of getting their license. Very few people need encouragement to break rules, they do that all by themselves.

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

True. It's mostly things like when you should tick "stop the car" during the exam and in real life it would be enough/better to just drive slowly. I get the impression that he knows we won't follow the rules if we think they're stupid, so he tries to tell us which ones are important and how to drive sensibly.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

Congrats on driving a car. Did the theory help with the practice or not at all?

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

Not really, because the chapter I would have needed was mainly the clutch, and that seemed so simply in theory that I didn't pay enough attention to it. So it was partly my own fault. The things I did pay attention to will come in later, I expect.
Next try tomorrow, hopefully it'll become easier quickly...

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

As it's now tomorrow, how did it go?

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

It was okay. I'm getting more comfortable steering, but starting and stopping is still hard. And you have to do that all the time! My nerves lasted twice as long this time, at least that's something? ;) I'm very glad I get to practice a bit before the official driving lessons.