Gloria ~ May 17

 

DRIVING...PART 3

 

So…it’s twenty years later and I’m catching that “get licence” fever.

 

That’s because I had fallen in love with a  vacation spot in the Catskills. Just a farmhouse with woods and communal dining and a path down to a beautifully clean and serene lake. The only way to get there was by bus.

 

I get car sick on a bus. 

 

So this time I made sure to sign up with a school that taught indoor simulated driving first so I could at least get to know the car parts (that “gas thingy” was the clutch) and the road rules and all you need to know to avoid  getting one's self  or anyone else killed. And I chose the automatic as I never again wanted to see that stick thing.

 

My first road instructor  was nice…kind of sleepy…once in a while he sort of drifted off…and I did not pass the driving test. Which was good because I knew I was not ready and needed an instructor who cared enough about his life to stay awake.

 

I got one. He was Japanese and about five foot two and absolutely fierce and would get mad at me all the time because I have this inability to tell my right from my left and he would yell:

 

WHY YOU GO LEFT I TELL YOU GO RIGHT YOU ALMOSt HIT GRANDMA!!

 

And there was the incident where he was furious because a driver cut me off and he hopped out of the car at the red light to yell at this six foot tall muscle guy who  unfolded himself out of HIS car and I’m thinking:

 

We both gonna die.

 

Somehow we survived and I was sort of ready to take the test again. 

The only thing I could not do was parallel park…. We tried again the day of the test…nope…Just had to hope that particular maneuver was not included.

 

Tests are not allowed in Manhattan so we had to drive way up to Riverdale. Once there I get into  the tester's car and he says to pull out and I see a handful of kids and their teacher crossing the street directly ahead but pretty far away.I didn’t care if they were on Mars…I was not going to pull out until they were all safely on the other side. 

 

My instructor told me later that it was a good decision.

 

Se we pull out and go around the  corner… and that’s when he tells me to parallel park

 

Between two cars.’

 

I look over my shoulder and standing there in the middle of  the road arms folded in his best upright soldier stance is my instructor and I’m thinking if I don’t get this right he’s gonna make me walk home.

 

I got it right. First shot.

 

 

The only other challenge was a four way stop and the  guy said I just took a bit too long to go. What he did not know was that I had no idea at that moment who had the right of way so I took a guess that it was me.

 

And to the astonishment of myself and my diehard instructor…I passed the test.

 

Now my goal was to rent a car...and drive to that farm,