Seventh time lucky

The day arrives.. april the 9th 2010. attempt SEVEN! In my mind this is it.. no going back, this will be the final time I attempt my drivers as I can no longer take the rejection, its worse than a typical night out at tiger for a ginger. After a 2hour driving lesson I arrive at the yard, more nervous than i've been before.. i think! My hands are sweaty, knees week, arms are heavy feel like my breakfast might come up soon.. im like Eminem before his big rap battle. My instructor told me to wear something short and now im regretting my decision not to. When I see the tester walking towards me I try play the situation up a little so that he feels sorry for me.. bending over and breathing slowly I tell him how nervous I am and im not feeling to well, his response " do you have your learners on you!?" Awesome.. its going great already.. one can only imagine the sweat flowing from every place possible making the situation more uncomfortable that necessary, but when he doesnt ask me to do my inside checks it makes me think that maybe today wont be too bad..!?? "So I understand this is not your first attempt?" aaaah the question I hate most.. so embarrassing to answer, if it was a measly 3 times I would be bragging but to have to admit to "um.. not its my 7th" cheeks blazing is not fun.

The 20min yard part flies by and when Im over the hill start and realise that im out the yard I burst into tears.. I can see the look on his face thinking "oh God not a crier.. Please no" ( men cant handle it when girls cry..ha) "wwwhy are you crying.. just relax" through sobs "im sorry its just i 've.. never been through the yard before" these were happy tears by the way but I can see him thinking I am mad.. and how he wished he didnt have to take this delinquent driver for her test today. By now he is probably as nervous as I am and out of the corner of my I, I catch his foot floating close to the brakes and clutch.. just in case it comes to that. Okay so far so good.. im relaxing more and more and am feeling pretty smug in the drivers seat.. this does not last long however as we approach the mount Vesuvius of hills. In first at the bottom..approaching 30 revs..must change to 2nd? chug chuug chuuuuug up this hill, barely moving..need to change down to 1st..while I am fine with my use of acceleration i forget to push the clutch full in and probably burn about half of the tyre tread off. Almost suffering from an asthma attack from the rubber smoke my tester has to use his clutch and change down for me. Done, fail, good job Jess, you will now be that girl who is just not able to pass her drivers..fuck!

But have no fear its obviously my lucky day, he turns to me and says just carry on.. dont stress.. woooohooooo nothing can stop me now. This guy is putty in my hands and im going to pass. This gives me a small leap of confidence enough to get the the end of the route.. and now its hell all over again while you have to wait for them to add up your points. I always wonder how they used to calculate points in the old days as all my previous instructors have whipped out some fancy Nokia or Samsung ( this is where all the money you pay goes to) to help them with the points. The waiting is not cool, it takes forever and I cant see what he's writing or ticking/crossing making it worse.. it feels like I've been waiting for over an hour when he looks over at me and sighs.. Oh shit. Okay Jessica you must realize that you did make some mistakes that are not acceptable but I can see you are nervous and can drive (I. CAN. DRIVE. HELLO) so.... pass box: tick :). To explain my excitement and other feelings is hard to put in writing.. Obviously I cry again and hug him ( I feel like I should be doing much more -which would obviously not be appropriate) but seeing how he reacted to the hug, i opt for a hand shake instead.

Ha haa I am now officially a driver.. watch out for me on the roads Cape Town.