28th February 2008 - Right first time.... Finally, finally, finally I sat behind the wheel of a lorry for real! My long awaited, long prepared for HGV driving course began on Wednesday 20th February and was made up of three hours driving daily for six days, followed by my driving test on the seventh day (no day of rest for me!)
I sat with my instructor, Little Jeff (so named because Big Jeff sat in the Bypass training offices). I kept wanting to call him Eric, don’t know why, but there you go! At the very beginning, he told me he didn’t shout and he didn’t get annoyed – reassuring for someone like me who does enough shouting and getting angry at myself for my mistakes, without someone else doing it for me!
My lorry was the same 35 foot long, 8 foot wide beastie that I was assessed driving so many weeks ago. I was afeared (Stephen’s word)! It is a big beastie and the roads at the start of the course felt far too small for us! It also had an eight speed gear box divided into four high and four low range gears by the flick of a button which was the object of my fiercest hate campaign!
And so it began. Motorways, roundabouts, dual carriageways; bends, kerbstones, trees; pedestrians, traffic lights, cars – so much to think about all the time! It was a humbling experience in many ways. Having driven a car for twenty years it was hard to be back in the student’s seat, and during the course I went through a myriad of different emotions from elation at doing something right, to downright frustration at the many things I got wrong, and all things in between!
But guess what? The roads got bigger, the bends weren’t quite so bendy and the lorry became quite amenable to my demands, yes, even the much-hated gear box!
Test day – was terrifying!
Words cannot even begin to describe how I felt; sick, shaky, sweaty palms. My final drive the day before had been inconclusive; the morning drive awful, the afternoon great! So yes, test day was, in a word, terrifying!
But, another word...SUCCESS!
One hour and fifteen minutes later I was holding my precious blue PASS certificate and so flew the texts and telephone calls for sometime after, Stephen and Mo being among the first to know, their support throughout being unshakeable!
Such a fantastic journey, such a great learning experience, and undoubtedly more than just a test of my driving ability.
Next? Well, today a lorry driving licence, tomorrow France?
