(Hours 44 & 45)


Tonight's been a good night and it was definitely worth the experience! Driving in the dark was amazing and I feel I'm addicted to it already after just 2 hours! The initial idea of driving in the dark was scary just because I had never done it before and the things I usually see in the day had turned to items in the dark.. including the dash that glowed before me. The atmosphere was very lively and exciting and I couldn't help feel like a rebel!

After my impulsive night out, I've been told my next route is the A55! I was shocked because I'll have to maintain a speed of 70 throughout and I've never approached that limit before! As I'm typing this I'm getting more excited and I cannot wait for Sunday to arrive..

(Hours 42 & 43)

It almost felt like the start again today when I had to drive in a completely new area and a new road. I was introduced to a city rather than the usual quiet roads. Some of my old habits were forced out the window to maintain and push my progress further.. this included the word 'confidence'.

Going out onto a busy city road with confidence is definitely important as I was meeting traffic almost everywhere. Without this, making a smooth drive could be quite difficult as accidents can occur much easily. My current skills are continuously being developed and very less prompts are being made.. my instructor has done this deliberately to help boost my confidence and push my ability towards the test standard.

One thing I have always not liked during my short experience of driving is stopping and starting. As I am now driving in a city, the roads are busier and traffic queues are almost unavoidable.. this has definitely helped me improve as I have gained new experience and the reluctance of driving in traffic queues is slowly fading.

At the end of my performance I could see that I worry too much! Driving in an unfamiliar place with plenty of traffic can be done without a doubt! My next lesson will be a night drive. Again, this is set up intentionally to gain new experience and make more progress. As I am still not totally sure about this, we have agreed to drive across 2 hours where the night will fall as I drive.

(Hours 40 & 41)

The roundabout lesson last week had more impact on me than what I expected. I definitely had more confidence on one today and managed to reduce the speed and select a lower gear without losing concentration..

Occasionally I still have the odd times where I do some stupid things.. today was a really funny example when I was heading out of the almost empty car park.. Coming towards me was another BSM Learner and obviously I got too distracted! As stupid as it may seem, I was closer to the exit than she was and I thought I had priority haha... of course in this situation no one would, but for some reason I got that instinct! I suddenly heard my instructor say 'clutch down' which meant for me to give way.. as I 'did' I stalled the car, laughing hard! The other learner just looked and laughed and I heard 'clutch down' again, only this time a little louder in a joking manner.. I obviously didn't 'clutch down'.. it was the brake I used...

(Hours 38 & 39)

I made an early drive today to avoid traffic and busy roundabouts.. As I drove on the roundabouts one by one, I began to understand the technique of them and how to approach them safely. Although this was taught in some previous lessons, it has been hard to interpret as I was focusing on many different parts of the driving. Today was different as the main theme was on roundabouts and the word remained in my head making me think that I've got to perform my best and achieve my own goal.. putting an end to my nerves on a roundabout.

Other than roundabouts, I am always practising other small manoeuvres to keep them up to scratch. I performed a turn in the road today in front of an audience as the usually 'quiet' road turned into a busy road.. A huge tractor turned up just as I began the manoeuvre and a little blue car appeared as I was half way through, completing the neatly arranged row across the two lanes. I tried not to let this bother me and continued with the manoevure making sure I would not embarrass myself or do anything stupid while on show. The manoeuvre ended off with a smooth finish and nothing bad happened in between.

(Hours 36 & 37)

Sitting in the car already felt different today as the Theory weight was off my shoulders and put aside. The main concentration ahead of me now is putting the Hazard Perception knowledge onto the main road. Knowing that I had passed the Theory and Hazard Perception test assured me that everything I had been doing previously was correct and that I need to have more confidence in myself.

I focused mainly on speed today,.. catching up with the speed to avoid holding up drivers behind me. My main downfall for this is not applying the gas immediately after changing a gear. As I am working on this, roundabouts are still an issue within my driving. My next lesson will lie mainly in this area as an early approach let me down today.

Apart from this, my performance has been much better.

A bad night's sleep finally paid off when I read my test results in a cluttered block of text... I skimmed way too quick looking for the 'PASS' word when in actual fact the first word, 'Congratulations', had told me I had passed...

I'm really happy to have passed the whole Theory Test considering the amount of worries I had for the Hazard Perception part.. I found the clips I did today easier than the ones I did in my training... I even passed with a higher score,.. I don't know the reason behind this but I guess it's just viewing the unseen clips with fresh eyes and clicking when something was wrong.. I was scared to have an unmarked clip as I felt myself clicking too much when the red flags came up one after another across the bottom of the screen.. a red cross didn't appear which told me I was safe.

As for the 50 questions, I got one wrong.. I'm gutted in this aspect as 49 is not a round number!

This was the deadly traffic sign I got wrong... I felt myself battling between the 2 answers and I marked it as 'Leave the motorway at the next exit',.. it should have been 'Move to the lane on your left'...

Just want to enclose a few thoughts on the Theory before I sit the exam tomorrow...

I've been reading and practising the Theory questions for the past month and think I'm fully prepared for the 50 questions ahead of me tomorrow.. I watched a DVD that gave me an idea of what is expected in the test.. the Hazard Perception part worries me the most as I have been practising the same 14 clips over and over where on the DVD it said that this doesn't help as you will only be able to look out for those particular hazards. In real life, these may not happen and there are many more different types of hazards..

Even though this may be the case, I hope the passes from the training have told me the truth and that I am able to battle both parts of the Theory successfully.

Kev's new series 'Last One Standing' is to air 22 Sep '08 - 18 Oct '08!