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Learning to Drive and Buying a Car


gmoney

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I don't really have anything to add except I am also about to start doing lessons and have decided to go automatic as previously, when I tried to learn in a manual, the instructor made me a nervous wreck and I'd like to have a licence in hand by Christmas this year as it is getting a bit much to need a lift everytime I'm staying anywhere outside of London.

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This thread actually brings up the memories of my first ever time learning to drive way back when I was 16. My parents bought me ten driving lessons as a birthday gift, and the instructor's idea of practicing the 'drive, slow down to a crawl, then drive off' technique was to have me drive past schools during the morning/afternoon rush and slow down past them so he could ogle the mums (or at least thats what I assume he was doing).

"Coooorrr! Look at that bit of kipper!" he'd hiss at me, before commanding that I quickly drive off. No wonder I didn't learn to drive for another decade.

Edited by Accident Prone
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21 minutes ago, Accident Prone said:

This thread actually brings up the memories of my first ever time learning to drive way back when I was 16. My parents bought me ten driving lessons as a birthday gift, and the instructor's idea of practicing the 'drive, slow down to a crawl, then drive off' technique was to have me drive past schools during the morning/afternoon rush and slow down past them so he could ogle the mums (or at least thats what I assume he was doing).

"Coooorrr! Look at that bit of kipper!" he'd hiss at me, before commanding that I quickly drive off. No wonder I didn't learn to drive for another decade.

Sounds shockingly like my first driving instructor. His name wasn't Mike was it? I'm sure more than one of them were creeps. This guy used to make comments about girls my age and possibly below especially in the summertime, always left me super uncomfortable. 

I took about 6 years (with a long break inside that) to pass and accumulated 6 fails. 2 as a 17 year old and then 4 in my final attempt. Some of those fails wind me up to this day. I never found gears to be a big problem it was more keeping my distance from the side of the road, in the end I realized that the cars I was learning in were just to big for me to get the hang of and my instructor was kind enough to dust off his old diesel Polo for my test even though we had been using his AA provided Focus. After that I only owned the tiniest cars I could find and it's only been through using hire cars when I'm back in England that I've become more comfortable with bigger vehicles. My preference is still to drive a glorified go kart though and if I moved back tomorrow I'd buy a Fiat 500 or Toyota IQ. 

Now I haven't owned a car for almost a decade and only sporadically driven but I relish any chance I get to drive a car as I spend most of my life on my scooter although hoping to purchase my first manual bike sometime this year if the financial gods are kind to me. 

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10 minutes ago, simonworden said:

Sounds shockingly like my first driving instructor. His name wasn't Mike was it? I'm sure more than one of them were creeps. This guy used to make comments about girls my age and possibly below especially in the summertime, always left me super uncomfortable. 

Can't remember his name but if you lived in Birmingham during that time, it may have been him! From what I remember, he looked like a 90's-era Matt Priest (drummer from 'Dodgy', suitably enough).

Edited by Accident Prone
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I had some lessons when I was 18 and got quite far with it, but unfortunately ran out of money. 
I didn’t pick it up again until I was 25 and I passed first time with no minors. I adore driving, yet in typical Islander fashion driving on motorways scares the shit out of me to the point where I’ve only ever driven around Southampton and Portsmouth when I venture off the island. I long for road trips, but a combination of fear and pain from my illness keeps putting me off.

Oddly, when I went to America I managed to drive around Santa Monica, Hollywood and Long Beach on short journeys and wasn’t scared at all.

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3 hours ago, Kookoocachu said:

I had some lessons when I was 18 and got quite far with it, but unfortunately ran out of money. 
I didn’t pick it up again until I was 25 and I passed first time with no minors. I adore driving, yet in typical Islander fashion driving on motorways scares the shit out of me to the point where I’ve only ever driven around Southampton and Portsmouth when I venture off the island. I long for road trips, but a combination of fear and pain from my illness keeps putting me off.

Oddly, when I went to America I managed to drive around Santa Monica, Hollywood and Long Beach on short journeys and wasn’t scared at all.

I can understand why you'd be put off driving on the main land if the first thing you hit was Portsmouth or Southampton's roads especially right where the ferry port is as it can take you 30 mins to get back to your turning if you miss the one you intended for. Should have taken the Lymington ferry and had a nice drive in the forest to warm you up!

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On 1/10/2022 at 11:43 PM, simonworden said:

I can understand why you'd be put off driving on the main land if the first thing you hit was Portsmouth or Southampton's roads especially right where the ferry port is as it can take you 30 mins to get back to your turning if you miss the one you intended for. Should have taken the Lymington ferry and had a nice drive in the forest to warm you up!

I have no issue with Soton or Pompey, and yeah driving over to the New Forest is nice when popping to Beaulieu or Exbury Gardens. I'm scared by the speed of the other cars and I assume that everyone is about to crash into me :( I'm a speed freak, but it's other drivers that give me anxiety.

 

EDIT: also I'd rather poke my eyes out with a fork than use Wightlink.

Edited by Kookoocachu
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Where I grew up not being able to drive wasn't an option, given the village had 2 buses a day and a 3 mile walk to the nearest village shop.

The first thing everyone did was to apply for their provisional licence and start lessons the moment they turned 17.

Even 20 years ago I was paying like ÂŁ15 an hour, so god knows how much they cost these days.

I eventually passed second time and that took me over a year in the end. 

What inherinently winds me up about sections of the green lobby is this obsession that petrol prices should be as high as possible, not realising that some of us don't have a tube train or tram running past every 4 minutes. 

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Yeah I have no idea why it’s like that. Swindon’s football ground is right next to it so it can get quite exciting on a Saturday afternoon 

Edit - and don’t forget Magic Chippy either, every magic roundabout needs a good chippy

Edited by waters44
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