Last week I took my darling friend Dora for a drive. She's learning to push the pedals on her nifty Nissan Micra this summer, and I am chief passenger. As I got dizzy circumnavigating IADT's playground-like carpark, I reflected on my own learning experiences.
Mater Gostrangely, a.k.a. Ms GoMeekly, is not religious, least of all Catholic. However, as I careered and stalled my way around Wicklow circa 2000, she prayed the bejaysus out of her soulless alma. Clutching the carseat with all the might of the protaganist in "Not Without My Daughter" and glowing profusely (she's too ladylike to expire in any other way), poor mama was trying to be fair. "Em, Sarah, a little close to the curb, there," or "Watch it! That's a person, not a hedge."
Of course I took umbrage. Telling me not to do something is like inviting a donkey to ruminate in a bog: it's going nowhere fast. But ten years on and a couple of court cases/road deaths later, i may have to admit that M had a point.
Strangely, Dora is an excellent driver; not surprising, with tuition like yours truly *cue grande smugness. Perhaps it's her reticent nature: she's naturally shrewd and proceeds with caution most of the time. Learners are in fact the best drivers on the road, I reappraise. It's the ones that passed their test ten years ago and feel they can teach others to drive that we should worry about.
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3 comments:
I'll call off the search party. Welcome back Sarah.
Aye, good to see you back in the saddle.
You make a good point about learners being the best drivers on the roads. I reckon most experienced drivers would fail their tests if they had to do them again tomorrow. I think in Germany they make people do the test again every few years. Pain in the bollocks, no doubt, but it results in much lower insurance premiums and fewer road deaths.
My Dad made me drive through the Walkinstown Roundabout (six roads I think) after only a couple of lessons in an industrial estate on Sundays.
Baptism of fire.
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