Driving me crazy

Literally.

Well, I'm taking driving lessons.

Not kidding.

I'm in my thirties and I feel like I'm 16 again (which is not a bad thing, but not in this situation).

When I was living in upstate New York, driving was a lot of fun. I tested the speed limit loads, found the quickest routes to places, managed to back into a mailbox with Tato's car, and managed to total the front half of my brand new Chevy Beretta right after I got it, when I was 19. In general terms, I was a pretty good driver.

Living in the city, however, has the benefit of me not having to worry about car insurance, navigating complicated roundabout systems (who the fuck invented those things?!), roads that are about as wide as a tennis shoe, and competing with aggressive cab drivers and suicidal bicyclists. The mister gets to deal with that, and I get to be the co-pilot and music-nazi. Plus, the mister drives with controlled insanity, which is a lot of fun, especially in our little sportscar.

But, now that we're getting a new car, and both our hectic schedules cannot rely on just one person driving to places, I've decided to conquer my fears and just do it.

I decided to take lessons in an automatic car. I tried the manual gearshift (which most people drive in this country), and I did think it was a lot of fun, but I can't be bothered with remembering to worry about the clutch and which gear i should be in while people are cursing at me to get onto the left side of the road.

So, automatic it is. And my lessons have been really fun and my teacher is great. It makes me feel really brave when I'm weaving in and out of crazy London traffic (and I have to say, it's much worse than driving in New York City, if that's even possible).

But the amount of information that you have to know for the written and driving test is testing my noodle. There are so many signs and and light-signal combinations and legal requirements and hazard perception videos and "perceived" speed limits... I didn't remember my driving test being like this when I was 16.

Anyway, I studied pretty well for the written test that I took today.. and..

I failed. Duh. I would've passed, but I got three more than the maximum wrong. Oops. And the three were the "road marking" questions. The next time I can take it again is a month from now, and I have to pay another $60.

The actual driving test itself is rumoured to be a bitch, and apparently they fail you over very tiny things (no, I don't qualify "tiny" as hurtling off a cliff by mistake).

So, this is one of the hurdles that I have to get over- but I'll tell you, once I'm able to get my hands on our car and drive it (and peel the mister off the ceiling), oh man will it be worth it.