Warning...
I've been driving just over a month now, and I'm finally realising that what people said was actually true. You don't really gain driving experience until after you pass your test. Sure you can know how to drive correctly. Pushing all the right buttons, at the right times. Checking your mirrors for overtaking, or just for people constantly on your ass. But once you're in a car all by yourself, with no one talking in your ear...then and only then you realise what driving is really like.
I'm going to be honest with you the first month after passing my test was pretty scary. The first hiccup was the car. It's an old car, with a difficult biting point. One which took the whole first month to actual master to some degree and understand what to do and when to do it. This led to my first embarrassing moment of being stuck on a tiny hill with no way of getting up it (at least no way for a new driver in an old car). I ended up having to reverse back down it after letting three cars go around me. Not the nicest way to ease myself into driving alone.
The second hiccup was lanes on new roads. I tried to push myself as fast as possible as I was already behind a lot of my friends in the 'art' of knowing how to drive. So I went onto roads I'd never driven on before in my lessons to get to the closest shopping centre that was near my home. Ahh which leads us onto embarrassing moment number two. Being stuck at the front of a queue trying to change lanes at the last-minute isn't great. And with the number of annoyed drivers around you, staring at you in a despising way it doesn't seem to make you feel better either. Luckily no one knew me.
The third hiccup was motorways. Now this has to be the worst thing so far. I mean overall it is just a straight route. The only thing that worries me is that the faster you go, obviously the worse off you be in an accident. Which is why I do my best to do everything right when I'm on a motorway. Abide by the speed limit, keep the right distance from other cars, and take care while changing lanes. But when a massive lorry decides to move over in front of me in the slow lane, after a late indication and leaving around about a 5 inch gap, it makes it a bit harder. And this is my issue. I can do my best to do everything right on a motorway, but I can't control other people's actions...and let's face it...there's some right idiots out there!
Ahh on the upside, I am loving being able to drive. The freedom, the opportunity, the control. I can go anywhere, whenever I want. So I guess this is the start of my life as a roadtripper...lets see where I end up...
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