Now it was time to try handling the monster car Honda Accord. At one point I got so fed up of the sheer mass that I almost test drove a relatively petite Honda Fit SX. Sigh...
To be fair handling the Accord wasn't so terrible once I got used to feeling the size. I could soon easily negotiate round curbs, slide between parked cars and estimate distances from my limited view at bottom of the windshield (rising 5 feet nothing I can only see the base of the wipers :-) One cold wintry day I convinced hubby to pretend being the left bumper of a car so I could attempt parallel parking around him!
All I needed was some road experience at 65 mph on R-495 and I would be well equipped for my road test... or so my naive brain once again presumed.
Few days later with my confidence soaring supreme after the great parallel parking exercise I was watching Mr. Monk and The Three Julies. As I watched Julie attempt her road test I got a nasty shock; she was driving in a parking lot scattered with orange cones to mark routes! This was crazy!
Wanting to find how road tests were conducted by the Mass RMV I googled but in vain. No one had bothered to share their experiences. Over the past 6 month I had already suffered through one unexpected shock of false bravado (no job still!) But now I did not want to face the fate with my road test. So I finally gave in to hubby's advice and agreed to enroll at a driving school.
Billerica has a Tri Town but their prices made me look for alternatives. When I called the Chelmsford Auto School I had an inordinately long hold time so I hung up. Next was Sim's Driving School; conversation flowed smoothly and it was agreed they would pick me up the very next day.
Meeting Mr. Sim was like meeting Santa; smiling always he puts you totally at ease. He sat patiently while I strapped on my seat belt and went through numerous iterations of adjusting my seat and all mirrors (it's compulsive; I do it at least three times) I started to back out of the parking slot.. and then began the fun !
"Is that the best you can do", Mr. Sim asked.
"Maybe better", I replied defensively and stopped backing to try once more.
"OK", said Mr. Sim, "show me again what you can do".
My second attempt was as good as the first, and Mr. Sim sighed. Obviously I had a lot to learn. After my first drive in the car with "Student Driver" splashed all over Mr. Sim decided it would be OK for me to have 2 more sessions. We'd practice parking in the 2nd session.
Without going through the details of everything that he and his younger and sterner assistant, Mr. Pishit taught me, suffice to say I changed my driving style considerably. IMO looking over the shoulder during backup and lane-changes was for sissies; now of course I realize the significance. Speed limits were never a problem; when I cruise I'm in fact showing off my total control over the car ;-) The mystery behind STOP signs was easily unraveled; 3-point turns were a piece of cake for I can confidently U-turn between any set of curbs.
Parallel parking was the only seemingly insurmountable peak, more so for the algorithm it involved. All my previous experiences with parallel parking had been ad-hoc attempts. Now I learned how it was a rather precise science with 5 exact maneuvers, each achieving the next position until the car slid smoothly into position.
At the end of my 3rd class I wanted to have 3 more. Now my confidence was not falsely based on naive bravado, but on the secure knowledge that I had learned the correct way.
So we scheduled the road test.
Moral of the story : the best way to do anything is always only the right way; study local requirements before jumping headlong
___cont part-3
To be fair handling the Accord wasn't so terrible once I got used to feeling the size. I could soon easily negotiate round curbs, slide between parked cars and estimate distances from my limited view at bottom of the windshield (rising 5 feet nothing I can only see the base of the wipers :-) One cold wintry day I convinced hubby to pretend being the left bumper of a car so I could attempt parallel parking around him!
All I needed was some road experience at 65 mph on R-495 and I would be well equipped for my road test... or so my naive brain once again presumed.
Few days later with my confidence soaring supreme after the great parallel parking exercise I was watching Mr. Monk and The Three Julies. As I watched Julie attempt her road test I got a nasty shock; she was driving in a parking lot scattered with orange cones to mark routes! This was crazy!
Wanting to find how road tests were conducted by the Mass RMV I googled but in vain. No one had bothered to share their experiences. Over the past 6 month I had already suffered through one unexpected shock of false bravado (no job still!) But now I did not want to face the fate with my road test. So I finally gave in to hubby's advice and agreed to enroll at a driving school.
Billerica has a Tri Town but their prices made me look for alternatives. When I called the Chelmsford Auto School I had an inordinately long hold time so I hung up. Next was Sim's Driving School; conversation flowed smoothly and it was agreed they would pick me up the very next day.
Meeting Mr. Sim was like meeting Santa; smiling always he puts you totally at ease. He sat patiently while I strapped on my seat belt and went through numerous iterations of adjusting my seat and all mirrors (it's compulsive; I do it at least three times) I started to back out of the parking slot.. and then began the fun !
"Is that the best you can do", Mr. Sim asked.
"Maybe better", I replied defensively and stopped backing to try once more.
"OK", said Mr. Sim, "show me again what you can do".
My second attempt was as good as the first, and Mr. Sim sighed. Obviously I had a lot to learn. After my first drive in the car with "Student Driver" splashed all over Mr. Sim decided it would be OK for me to have 2 more sessions. We'd practice parking in the 2nd session.
Without going through the details of everything that he and his younger and sterner assistant, Mr. Pishit taught me, suffice to say I changed my driving style considerably. IMO looking over the shoulder during backup and lane-changes was for sissies; now of course I realize the significance. Speed limits were never a problem; when I cruise I'm in fact showing off my total control over the car ;-) The mystery behind STOP signs was easily unraveled; 3-point turns were a piece of cake for I can confidently U-turn between any set of curbs.
Parallel parking was the only seemingly insurmountable peak, more so for the algorithm it involved. All my previous experiences with parallel parking had been ad-hoc attempts. Now I learned how it was a rather precise science with 5 exact maneuvers, each achieving the next position until the car slid smoothly into position.
At the end of my 3rd class I wanted to have 3 more. Now my confidence was not falsely based on naive bravado, but on the secure knowledge that I had learned the correct way.
So we scheduled the road test.
Moral of the story : the best way to do anything is always only the right way; study local requirements before jumping headlong
___cont part-3
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