Hils's journal

This week has been really good for me (apart from the obvious break of not being at work) both my parents have commented on the huge improvement to my driving since I got here on Thursday. It just comes down to the fact that I've had masses of practise (I went out 4 times in the car today, twice on my own) and I'm feeling more confident.

I think maybe now is the time for a new driving icon. Lex in his Porsche or Tony in his Audi. Anyone got pics?

I just drove from Northallerton to Darlington without major incident. Mum's car is quite nice to drive.

I've been roped into driving Fergus to his training classes next week. Ah well, as much practise as I can get is good.

My laptop just had a BSOD. This had better not be the start of ongoing problems

My parents are awesome!

I've just done my first proper solo drive (just me in the car) and it was mostly ok but I did make a couple of cock-ups and a guy honked at me which freaked me out. Had a missed call on my mobile when I got back to work and it was the 'rents. Gave them a call and told them what had happened and they cheered me up and said loads of people make mistakes and to just ignore it and focus on the next drive

Dad-Ra has got me on the rota to drive the dogs to the walking area every day next week and to pick him up from the garage when he gets his car fixed so I'm getting lots of chances to practise and that's good.

Definitely not ready to get rid of this icon yet though. LOL!

Today I went for my first drive by myself, except I wasn't really by myself because Greg came too. LOL! We had to do some work at our other site which is about 10 miles away so I got to drive.

Of course everything I learned went out the window. Oops. I made a lot of mistakes but no one died and Greg fell asleep while I was driving so it can't have been that bad ;)

Well, that wasn't a great driving lesson but it didn't totally suck either. I made a bit of a cockup on one roundabout and that just frazzled me a bit so I started making some silly mistakes

On the other hand I did all the manouvers perfectly so that sort of balanced it out. LOL!

My instructor is really good though. She could tell I was a bit wound up so she had me do some good stuff to settle me a bit.

I'm getting there slowly but surely.

Although she asked me today when I had my test booked for and I nearly had a heart attack. I'm not even going to start thinking about booking it for another couple of months. LOL!

This icon is still appropriate. I was pulling this face a lot today. LOL!

Today is made of win! Oh, yes!

I managed to get all those shitty little calls that have been hanging over my head finished and we went from starting the day on 17 jobs to ending the day on 5 \o/

I had an awesome driving lesson! I really like my new instructor. She's really pushing me and she also explains things in a really simple way. I'm still doing lots of little things wrong but I feel so much more confident about my ability. She kept laughing because every time I did something right I squeed.

Best part was when she got me to pull over and said 'right, do a three point turn' and after a moment of inner-flailing I did! With no help! YAY!

AND I posted crack!fic and people seem to really like it. Huzzah! lexalicious70 and I are a writing force to be reckoned with ;)

So, a good day today *grins*

Got another driving lesson tonight. It's weird but even though I've only had half the recommended number of lessons I feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, especially now I'm ready to take my theory test.

Another couple of months and I will (hopefully) be out on the roads on my own. WHEE!

And you KNOW the first thing I'm going to do when I have to take the works car out is say 'Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole' I've had to listen to WAY to much of Dave's anti-folk. LOL!

I was amused yesterday that one of the things I was complimented on was my gear changing because liteally right up until my last lesson with my old instructor I sucked at it. I always added the gas too late so it jerked when I changed gear

I have just changed from a diesel to a petrol car. Would that make a difference to the smoothness of gear changes?

I was a little put off at first as my new instructor didn't seem very friendly but once I got going she seemed to be ok. She was really pleased with my overall driving, just little kinks that need ironing out and I need to pracise my manouvers. She did a couple with me and said I have really good control of the car. I just need to learn how much steering to use etc so I can do it without being prompted.

I still can't reverse around a corner. LOL!

So I'm really happy. I got lots of encouraging feedback and a few pointers. I reckon my target of taking the test in July isn't unreasonable. YAY!

That was better! I feel like that was a good lesson and that I actually made progress so much better than last week. My instructor isn't having to remind me to change gear or check my mirrors half as much as he used to

Today it was roundabouts, which I hate but I now hate slightly less. Managed to stall 3 times *facepalm* Have just about got over my fear of driving fast too. My instructor was laughing at me because the first time I accelerated to 70 I looked shit-scared and apparently the second time I had a little gleeful smile on my face. LOL!

Had a quick go at parallel parking at the end of the lesson and I forsee the same problems I had reversing around a corner. I'll get a proper practise next week though.

After parallel parking that's it. He's shown me everything at least once and it will just be down to lots and lots of practise.