First Driving Lesson

Hmm well it's been a long time since I've blogged anything... Not that anyone reads it anyways. This is purely for my own warped entertainment. Let's see, what have I done that's blog worthy...

1. First Driving Lesson on the 3rd June 2008, Tuesday 1200 hrs

The instructor who took me has been taking my other family members so it's finally my turn to go for lessons. I've heard stories from my sister that totally put me off. Anyways, he arrived at 1200 sharp. We went through some theory first. Which car goes first at this particular crossroad situation, etc etc. I was bewildered at first but I got the hang of it soon enough. Somewhere along the line, the discussion of housing properties came along. My dad who was hanging around because he didn't have to give any lectures today asked him about it so yea. Anyways, theory took an hour. After that, we went to see the car I was going to be driving in. It was quite ok I guess. He briefed me on certain things, car parts etc.

Following that, it was the practical lesson. It was really.... omg omg omg... Yea, I think that sums it up. We started off from my house which is on a downhill slope and yea, I had no perception of speed or distance whatsoever. I thought I was going pretty fast but actually it was only like... at 20kmph... That was my initial speed along the neighbourhood roads. We went around the block many times to familiarise me with turning etc. So the big OMG comes when I'm turning the corner. I'm travelling at 40kmph but I'm supposed to enter the turn at 10kmph. I started to brake harder but omg, i had totally stopped the car. I paniced and stepped on the accelerator and we just went VOOOOM! I almost had a heart attack.

I was also told off quite a few times for gripping the wheel too tightly. I mean, cut me some slack, this is my first time driving and i was totally freaking out with my outrageous driving skills! Jeez! He made me use a pen to turn the wheel! It was surprisingly easy but that did not help at all! My steering technique was initially wrong. Supposedly, I had put my arms into a dead lock position and i wasn't letting go of the steering wheel. I didn't realise it but i got it corrected after... 2 hours...

So we drove from my place towards the airport. The driving conditions for my first attempt was absolutely wonderful! It was raining so heavily i couldn't really see what was ahead of me! And on the roads towards the airport, there were heaps of these humongous trucks! And my sense of direction is really really crap! I felt like I was in some sort of trance. Going with the flow. If he tells me to turn, I'd try my best to turn. That sort of situation, very robotic.

Along the way, we went through tunnels and all that and he pointed out that the dents in the metal road dividers etc were because the drivers were gripping their steering wheel too tightly and lost control resulting in the crash. He was very vocal about it so every time he spotted on, he'd go "See! BANG!" What was more hilarious was that as we went through the tunnel, there were heaps of cover up on the walls from previous accidents so he was basically going "BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!" while I was trying my very best to drive straight.

Next up is the roundabouts. My steering technique was still wrong then so I had to go around the same bloody roundabout like... 5 times? He gave up and told me to pull over and watch how he did it. That finally got me to get it right. Should have done that from the start!

Well, at that time, I guess I really had no idea what I was doing but thinking back, I kinda understand what I was supposed to be doing. It's really scary but also quite fun. It's a good thing I didn't run down any kids along the way too! I really had a hunch I was going to kill someone.

Anyways, I was driving on the road for 2 hours. 48 hours left! Tomorrow, or later today rather, 5th June 2008, 1400 hrs, it'll be my 2nd driving lesson.

Wish me luck!