Behind the wheel

I finally drove yesterday.  I cleared my mind of any negativity, said a prayer, and off we went.  Ram and I decided to make the drive to our new house.  Its a 4 mile drive from our temporary housing. Piece of cake, right? 

A taxi driver once told me that Aberdeen is only 3 miles wide and 4 miles long.  I'm not sure if that statement is accurate but  I would say its Sugar Land^2.  So typically everything in the city is 5-10 minutes away.  

Initially, I was comforted by these facts.  But as I came across one round-a-bout after another, the 8 minute drive felt like an eternity.  The hardest part for me was the fact that the corporate car is big and the roads are not wide.  That coupled with the fact that many people park on the streets here, made the streets feel like they were 2" wide.    

Thankfully the speed limit is only 20-40 km (12-25 mph) here.   So I can drive as slow as I want without feeling guilty.  They do have camera's here though and you only get a limited number of speeding tickets before your license gets suspended.  Yikes.  

Ram was an excellent passenger.  He was very encouraging along the way.  I managed to get us and the car to our destination in one piece.  (Ram claims I hit the curb once, but I don't recall that, so I have my doubts). Unfortunately, I was not a good passenger when Ram took over.  Because the car was so big it felt like he was almost always about the scrape the curb or nick a parked car.  Needless to say, he was quite annoyed with me.  What can I say, he's a better passenger than I! Next week we hope to get a smaller car, finger's crossed. 

I still plan to take driving lessons.  Ram's company has arranged this for us in May.  Hopefully I will have driven a few more times by then.  All I know is the curb better stay outta my way!