Today was a relatively frustrating driving-lesson day. My instructor was late, to the point where I had to call him up to ask him if he was actually coming over (he was supposed to pick me up at my place). He was about 25 minutes late and when he finally got here, there was a girl on the driver’s seat! She drove for about 20 more minutes before I finally got my chance.
I really feel that he’s not taking me seriously and is just stalling so he can get me to have more lessons, so that I get to pay more. If I feel that this whole daily lesson thing isn’t working out I will take lessons 2-3 times a week or even try another instructor. It’s all about making the most out of the money I’m spending. This was hard-earned cash, I didn’t come from money.
Anyway, I got onto the driver’s seat outside the stadium grounds, and drove around the stadium’s parking lot and karting roads. I did do just a little more than I did yesterday. He did let me practice my turns more…I don’t know if he was listening to me yesterday or if it was just a coincidence but he allowed me to tackle the 90-degree angle narrow turns on my own. I can’t say I’ve performed 100% on that, but the final time I did it, I did alright.
He allowed me to go further than yesterday too, I exited the stadium gates and made a few turns near the entrance of St. Anne Resort (or at least I think that’s where it is at Roche Caiman). There were cars going up and down in that area so I did face a few cars. It really is amazing how careful other drivers are around cars with huge ‘L’ boards on them. Although I think they’re actually trying to protect themselves from the learners.
Oh yeah, I’ve also used gears today…yesterday we kept it at second gear all the way but today I was able to shift from one to two, and then back to one a couple of times. The first two times that he told me to shift gears, I almost did it without the clutch! So I really kept that in mind the other times I was instructed to change gears.
I don’t really know if I’m getting the hang of it yet. I would say the issue here would be that he doesn’t back up practical with theory. For example, he will tell me to change gears, but as a beginner I wouldn’t really know why and when. When I’m about to reach a junction, bumps or bends, he tells me to press the clutch and doesn’t tell me why I have to do so.
I know that the first gear is the most powerful and the fourth gear is ‘looser’ than the first. The first gear also uses up the most fuel. My instructor told me that for my next lesson, I’ll be on the road (he asked me if I wanted to go to town today, but I refused).
My biggest problem right now would be stopping gracefully. The reason for this is that he has a problem with his car, and he doesn’t let us use brakes AT ALL throughout the lesson, until the very end where he takes the wheel. So I have only braked twice these two days…and they’re not the good kind.
I tend to stop sudden to the point where everyone in the car moves forward. Eeek! Today, before I stopped, I asked him if I’m supposed to press on clutch before I brake and he says ‘no’, then he tells me to “brake!” so I let go of accelerator (no clutch) and press on brakes. If you drive a manual transmission I’m sure you can imagine what happened. After the car stopped, he told me that I should have pressed on clutch and brake “simultaneously”. Next time, I’ll press on clutch all the way then let go of accelerator, and then I’ll press on the brakes.
I also noticed that I don’t really use the side mirrors yet, and I am not developing the habit to. So I really have to start looking at them. I feel I would be able to tackle a main road very soon, probably one with not much traffic. I know I’m supposed to give way to people coming from the right, while people on my left are supposed to give me way. But I swear, today someone on my right gave me way. That still boggles me. Maybe it’s that huge ‘L’ board on the car.
I think I drove for about 25-30 minutes today, and this is really not fair because I am paying for 45-minute lessons. If this happens again I will have to voice out my frustrations to the instructor so it doesn’t happen too frequently. At this point I’m really glad I didn’t pay for the package.
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WYSIWYG! I'm a simple person trying to live the simplest life possible - it seems to be the most difficult thing to achieve! I'm an internet enthusiast and I've been a webmaster since early 2007. I like: blogging, developing sites using open source software, social media, computer games, '80s music, comedy & horror, animals, crunching on M&Ms peanut and Smarties!
