Behind the Wheel, a dó

Tuesday, we took driving lessons arranged by Ram's company.  Our instructor was a retired cop turned owner/operator of his own driving company.  He has contracts with all the large companies to assist newcomers, like us, to get adjusted to driving in the UK and pass their driving test.

We drove around in his mini cooper, which is powerful for such a small car.  He pushed us to our limits that day.  He had us drive out of Aberdeen and into the country to conquer our fear of small roads.  We drove to Inverie, a small town with coastal views, farms, and fishing.  We even saw Highland Cattle, which are long haired cows. I've been hearing about them ever since we got here and I finally got to see one! They are so funny looking.

During our 6 hour lesson, we learned some interesting facts about the traffic laws in the UK.  As I mentioned before the driving speed usually varies between 20 and 40 mph.  So if the sign has the speed with a green circle, it's merely a suggestion.  If the sign has the speed in a red circle, its required.  To make things even more complicated, the speed changes every block or two.  And most of the streets have cameras, so if you get more than 12 points in a year, you're license is suspended! Each speeding ticket is 3 points.  I've never been known to speed but it's SO hard to drive 20 mph.

Another difficult habit to break will be learning their system to change lanes and reduce your speed.  They have an acronym MMSM, which stands for Mirror Mirror Signal Maneuver.  Over here you are required to look at your rear view mirror and your side mirrors BEFORE signaling or changing your speed.  They call it defensive driving.  I call it nonsense. The speed changes so often here it's impossible to keep checking your mirrors to make sure the car behind you won't hit you.  If they hit me, it's their fault, why should I kill myself over preventing them from hitting me? Automatic fail for both of us.

Over here they also "feed the wheel" instead of hand over hand when making turns.  Our instructor assured us that it's okay if we don't use that technique but if you lose grip of the wheel, that's an automatic fail.  Another FAIL for both of us.  Another interesting bit we learned- if you splash a pedestrian while driving, YOU're the offender.  Not the pedestrian who got too close to the curb or basically stood in the puddle, no sir.  If I ever get a ticket for that, I'm going to make sure that pedestrian is soaking wet.

Anyway, keeping all that in mind throughout the lesson made me consistently nervous aside from the fact that our instructor was playing on my fears (how dare he).  He even made Ram and I both drive on the most dangerous round-a-about in the UK, the Haudagain.  After surviving that, I was DONE. Mentally exhausted.  I felt like I was 16 again trying to learn how to drive.  But the good part is, once I pass the driving test over here, our license will be valid in all of Europe too.  Wish me luck!