Mastering those Gears! - Chronicles #4

I like being in control of a situation, and that for sure wasn't how I felt the first time I sat behind a steering wheel and had to get the ~~wheels~~ car moving! If it were my choice, I would have chosen to walk for miles rather than having to put my life and that of anyone else on the road in danger!

Beetle Liz.jpg
I doctored this photo of a friend's Volkswagen Beetle, but the car I first drove looked almost like this; it was an Austin A30! And it was nearing the end of its time on the road.

Straight out of school, a real rookie. Being the youngest in my first job, I was constantly nagged and teased about not being able to drive. The girl in charge of training me was going to a driving school and was preparing for her test.
I'd never sat behind a steering wheel, knew nothing about gears despite having a father who was always explaining the mechanical working of implements to his only daughter. It was a waste as I don't have a mechanical bone in my body, but I did not want to hurt his feelings, so I pretended to understand.
But he never explained about the gears in a car. I knew the word, and that was about all!

I've spoken of our office secretary before, and how she played matchmaker and introduced hubby to me. I also told you she was a real madcap, not afraid of anything, a fearless woman who learnt how to be strong through adversity. She even took part in stockcar racing; a crazy sport!

She drove an old Austin, picked me up one morning, and laughingly told me her brakes weren't working.

So how do you stop?

She looked at me as if that was a stupid question! I, on the other hand, felt like jumping out of the car. I was going to die for sure!

I use my gears and handbrake!

I had my learner's license thanks to her nagging. She dragged me out of the office one lunchtime, telling me I was going to drive her old Austin to the shopping mall.

Me, thought I! Never, not in a car that often wouldn't start, and sometimes had brakes that failed. What if the car cut out at a stop street, and I couldn't get it going?

She gave me a quick lesson on how to use the gears. I eventually got it right and learnt to stop changing to a lower gear, and pulling up the handbrake ever so gently to brake. Thankfully, she had that fixed; otherwise, my story could have ended differently! Come to think of it, the story would not have been told.

Of course, I took a couple of driving lessons at a registered driving school just before my driver's test. The driving instructor was the same guy who saw me driving through an intersection without stopping one day when he was taking my friend for her lesson.

I, of course, used the driving school's car for the test instead of the old Austin. They likely would have taken it off the road!

We went on many jaunts in that old car, even late at night on our own. It got us wherever we needed to go, despite some anxious moments when it would play up.

I don't think anyone else would have kept that old car on the road for that long! Who would have thought it would be the car that got me ready to go for and pass my driving test?

I have to add that perhaps that faulty Austin was the reason I became a confident driver!

This is just a posed photo, taken inside a large and quaint coffee shop. There was nowhere to go; the front and back were blocked!