A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

[Toby Gymshorts]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

Bloody hell, talk about suspense. Come on Max, what happened?

Perhaps he's passed and is just off driving for the sheer joy of it. That's what I did, after my successful 4th attempt.....

[evilC]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

Toby Gymshorts wrote:

Bloody hell, talk about suspense. Come on Max, what happened?

Perhaps he's passed and is just off driving for the sheer joy of it. That's what I did, after my successful 4th attempt.....

Yep - and he's probably driven non-stop to the Scottish Islands ...where there's no internet, or something!

[Max Payne]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

Hi folks...my test was at 2.42pm

I passed!!!!!!!

Actually I very nearly pissed it with a clean sheet : 1 minor fault at some traffic lights that were going amber to red on a right hand turn.

Still sinking in. I'm overjoyed.

Funny thing is, I can drive much better than that. It's easier when your entire body doesn't have pins and needles and you actually think you might faint!

I am a driver! Oh beautiful world! I need to get drunk now.....

[Gangster Octopus]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

Congratulations!

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

well done

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

Excellent - now get yourself a 1991 Vauxhall Nova GSi with a fat exhaust, lowered suspension, tinted windows, serif typeface number plate and a massive sound system.



As Tim Westwood would say: BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

[WOM]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

Then spend the day driving around with your mobile stuck in your ear telling everyone how you just got your license.

[Max Payne]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

Melbourne Arab wrote:

Good luck, Max.

I bet you can't wait to get over here and do your first hook turn.

That looks utterly insane! Looking forward to it.

Mrs Max has already got the car. We'll be driving a 1999 Mitsubishi Magna (Silver) 77,000 on clock. $6000AU. Second hand cars are pricey compared to the UK. This is a bargain according to my Father-in-Law.

[Max Payne]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

Cavalry Trouser Tips wrote:

Excellent - now get yourself a 1991 Vauxhall Nova GSi with a fat exhaust, lowered suspension, tinted windows, serif typeface number plate and a massive sound system.



As Tim Westwood would say: BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Of course, this would have been my second choice...

[Wolf2]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

Congratulations! I really ought to learn to drive this year, or I'll have to re-take my theory test. Which is an inconvenience, more than anything else.

Thing is...I don't like driving. I'm resigned to the fact that I have to learn to drive, as it goes, but I am struggling to motivate myself.

I'm very impressed that you posted on here before your test, by the way Max, I think I'd have waited until after the event!

[Guest]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

My friend took seven tests before passing, test number three I think was cancelled by the examiner within five minutes as he was a 'threat to public safety'.

By the process of downward comparison, it certainly puts the 12 majors in your second test in context I think.

[Third rate Leszno]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

Congratulations Max.

I nearly killed a motorcyclist on my first test, plus my examiner (whose door the aforementioned biker almost came through). Passed third go though, and have never looked back. I love driving. There is very little better in life than finding yourself on a winding road with beautiful scenery and no traffic, and you've nothing else to do with your day but drive. You don't have to have a supercar to enjoy it, one of my best days ever was driving the Stelvio Pass in Italy in an asthmatic Peugeot 405.....

My advice to the underconfident drivers amongst you would be to get out of the city (away from other road users) and into the countryside and just drive as much as possible - get to the point where you really feel that you are controlling the car (and not the other way round) and that you can cope when the car does something unexpected or you need to change direction in a hurry. Even better, go to a rally school if you can afford it, learn to chuck the car about in a safe environment where there's nothing to hit except a few traffic cones.

It might not make you look forward to getting into the car, but it should at least take away the feeling of unease when you have to do it.

[Guest]

A trian Wreck Car Crash of a thread

I concur with abw in that you should get as much practice as possible before taking the test. The fortunate thing with me is that I went practising with my mum round the deserted back roads of Fermanagh once a week for months and months before taking formal lessons. So if you have an accessible quiet rural area, go for it as much as possible.

I failed the test first time with one major fault (changing lanes too close to the car behind, causing them to brake fairly sharply), but then passed second time out with a clean slate... Is there any evidence out there to prove that testing centres actually deliberately fail people to get more cash for subsequent tests, or are all testers rigorously honest each time?

[Johnny Velvet]

A few years ago, for reasons too boring to go into here, I decided to learn to drive. Up to that point, I'd actively avoided the task because... well, because I was a touch immature, let's say. I didn't want to contribute any further to global warming, driving seemed to be such a "macho" thing that I wanted nothing to do with, and living in a city meant that I'd never need my own car to get anywhere. But really, I was scared. Confidence in my abilities is not something that comes easily to me. I spend most of my days feeling cripplingly insecure and inferior to almost everyone else and deep down I thought that my malfunctioning brain would forever prohibit me from being able to do what came naturally to most drivers.

Aforementioned "reasons" then intervened and I decided that life was too short to spend so much of it living in fear. Six years ago, I took my first lesson. Not having much disposable income meant that buying a car was out of the question so the only time I could practice driving was when I was visiting my parents down the country. Then I started a Master's degree, started messing around with a band again... I lost focus.

My first scheduled test was in November 2016. I was going to do it in my Mum's car. On the way to the test, the car refused to go above 60kph and I could feel a constant vibration through the wheel, like when you're driving too slowly in too high a gear. My Dad was with me so he took over and confirmed that, yep, it wasn't supposed to do that. It turned out that one of the circuits running to the engine had failed so the car was literally not firing on all cylinders. We managed to get to the test centre but the first thing I had to tell the tester was that the car was bollocksed. He understood and said I could postpone and get a cancellation at some point. Rotten luck.

Last year, I had to cancel a scheduled test thanks to a period of illness and it wasn't until May of this year that I heard back from the RSA. A cancellation meant that I could take my test in August. By this point, I'd "sacrificed" (if that isn't too strong a word) my weekends for several months to spend them in my hometown driving. I felt ready. No nerves, no second thoughts.

So last Friday I headed to Gorey (a small town in County Wexford) for the test. It took about 45 minutes and afterwards the tester started going over the results. I'd made eight faults in total - I'd failed to give right of way on two occasions on a side street, my left turns were too wide, I didn't look over my shoulder enough times reversing, I beckoned pedestrians to cross the road and my hill starts were unsteady. "One more fault and you'd have failed", he said.

I'd passed. I'm 37 years old and I'm finally a qualified driver. Aforementioned "reasons" meant that it felt like winning the Champions League final. Folks, let nobody put you down for not being able to do something. Take pride in the things you can do because odds are there's someone who desperately wishes they could do it too.

I'm, uh, still learning to swim and, more pathetically, I still can't ride a bike (let's just say I was an "odd" child). But that'll come soon, too.

[WOM]

Heartiest congratulations, old man. Ya did it.

[Gangster Octopus]

Congratulations!

[Kevin S]

Superb stuff RC, well done. Ireland looks a stunning country for road trips, too.

And better a wide left turn than a cut right turn.

[Hot Pepsi]

Congrats. That sounds like a much harder test than what I did nearly 30 years ago. Ours was just on a test track, but we were allowed just two faults.

[blameless]

Well done RC, excellent work!

I think I mentioned on another thread about driving tests that I failed mine twice before passing. The first time was fair enough, I wasn't ready, I was nervous, I made a ton of mistakes and didn't deserve to pass.

But the second time I was absolutely perfect, and the invigilator still failed me for giving way to the left rather than the right at a roundabout - the only problem with this "fault" was that the vehicle coming from the left was an 18-wheeler that failed to stop; if I hadn't pulled up the juggernaut would have torn through the tiny Honda we were in and killed both me and the ungrateful arsehole sat next to me.

[Snake Plissken]

Well done Reg.

If it helps any, I failed first time around because I hit another car.

[Third rate Leszno]

Nice one Reg, that’s excellent news. Have you got yourself a car, or are you planning to buy one?

[Amor de Cosmos]

Congrats RC. Your post sounds just like my son, who's 35 and can't/won't drive (he gives exactly the same reasons you do too.)

[adams house cat]

Top job Reg. I took my test in Nottingham when petrol was about 1/4d a gallon. I was in a Morris Minor. Sigh.

[Johnny Velvet]

Cheers everyone!

TRL - I've not got a car and currently I'm not planning to buy one seeing as, thankfully, I don't need one for work at the minute. That might change depending on employment circumstances but for the time being I'm happy just borrowing the parents' car when necessary, which shouldn't be that often. Now that I have the full licence I'm a lot more relaxed about it.

blameless - sorry to hear you got a bell-end of a tester. I was lucky, the guy who did mine was inscrutable. No small talk, no admonishments, no encouragements, just neutral professionalism all the way. That suited me down to the ground.

[WOM]

The first of my daughter's friends got her G1 (learner's permit) last week. She's itching to get hers, which will be this coming January. (It's still a big priority for kids over here.)
On the upside, she got her BoatSmart license this week, so at least she sort of knows what the learning/testing is all about.