Learning to Pass the Driving Test

I've been learning to drive, on and off, for about 3 years now. I started to learn to drive during my Learn to Surf weekend in Achill Island. It was November. There were gales, hailstones and powercuts. I started the week unable to stand on my surfboard or start a car. I ended the week wobbling on my board, and driving precariously on roads with not enough markings.

As I said. Three years ago.

There's been some improvement on the surfing since then. Indeed, at one point I wasn't so bad at all for A Girl. The driving was coming along nicely too. Su had bravely let me insure myself on her wee 1.1 litre red fiesta, and I was motoring away down south. Overtaking tractors and the like. She gave me a few key lessons along the way too. I particularly liked the 3-point turn on a tiny stone pier somewhere in Donegal with 3 live passengers in the car. We all made it.

But then Su got a fancy new car. Silver. Big. Intimidating. And I was no longer able to practice my driving in a wee knockaround. So I gave up for a while. The surfing kept coming along...slowly and unsurely.

Last year was going to be the year for both surfing and driving for me. I was to pass my test and improve my surfing. So first I got shingles. Not a nice ailment. And when I felt well enough to get fit again, I went surfing. And broke my knuckle. An injury that saw me spend a summer sitting on cliffs and watching other people surf, while I nursed my right hand in a splint. The driving didn't happen either.

So then I moved up here to Doire in September...got me a new instructor...got going at the old driving again and making progress. What then? Vertigo. An ear infection (from the surfing) gave me vertigo, so I felt constantly drunk. But not nice WO-HOO drunk. Horrible clinging to the carpet, trying not to be sick, wishing the world would stop spinning drunk. That lasted to Christmas. No surf, no driving.

This year. Surfing in Culdaff at New Year. Flu for next 2 weeks.

This month. Driving test notification has come through post. First instinct reading letter was to keep the whole thing a big secret, then to arrive home in my shiny car with my big red R plates on. Second instinct was to blurt it out to anyone who stands still long enough to listen...'I am to sit my test on the 16 of March'.

Here is a list of things I cannot do when driving:
- parallel park
- reverse around a corner
- emergency stop
- hill start
- put wipers/lights/heating/radio/hazards on
- overtake tractors in the North of Ireland
- roundabouts
- sensible lane selection

Here is a list of things I should not do when driving:
- take both hands off wheel and squeal 'I LOVE THAT SONG' when a song I love comes on
- close both eyes when feeling threatened by vehicles bigger than me
- put head out window to dry hair
- think 'I can make it'
- apply make-up

16 March. I have 10 days free for driving lessons before then. It feels like there's a lot to fit in that window...which is why I'm heading to Donegal to surf...maybe I'll break a leg.