Out of my way pedestrians, I am a motorist!
No, the title doesn't mean I have been hit by a car again. In fact, this time round if anyone will be doing the hitting, it'll be ME! Errr, wait no - that's not quite the right attitude for this fledgling driver.
You see, I have brought a car. I also only have my learners - as a mixture of apathy, one failed restricted test in my teens, medical conditions (occassional unexplained seizures means no driving for a couple of years if you aren't medicated, and I didn't much like the meds.) and an assorted array of convenient excuses have meant I have never really pursued getting behind the wheel since I was about 17 (when I did learn - in a manual and everything. In fact due to illness of my father on one trip I had to drive him back from Taupo, so driving is something I can in fact do - it's just been a while, and the law requires I have a baby sitter while doing so.)
My car, was a friends car, but she decided to move to Christchurch, and after the exchange of a princely sum (or not that much, or about right for the car, or something) I am now the proud owner of a dark blue 1993 Mazda Astina.
So, after remembering where the accelorometer and decelamatrix where, and finding that it being an auto made it all much more like playing a computer game than ACTUALLY driving in my estimation (compared to a manual) - the lesson with my father went well.
Wasn't much of a lesson in the sense of teaching, as he simply drove me across to the shore, from where I found a place to buy the mighty 'L' plates (L is short for L337 don't you know. ;) ) I took over the driving portion in a suitably quiet spot, then drove around into a less quiet spot to get petrol, then drove around some more. Culminating with my going back to the parents, doing some talking/having some foodage, then backing out of their lengthy driveway (with some assistance from my dad outside pointing and waving) and then driving across the bridge at night to get back to Ponsonby to find some bugger had stolen the spot outside my front door in which I would have preferred to park...
So really indeed I am a motorist, if a fledgling one, with my own set of wheels and all. Will still walk to work, because it's bugger all distance, and won't be able to drive much until the legalities of more additional licencing has been sorted out - but it's nice to be in the pool.
Is the sudden change a reaction to having been hit by a car? Probably, but I had been thinking about it before hand, and decided after getting hit that sorting out the driving thing would be on a list of priorities once my arm got better (which it is doing, thanks to physio and good surgeons.), and when I saw my friends car was for sale and she needed a quick sale due to the move it all seemed like the time.
So wish me luck... Or fear for your lives... Whatever comes naturally. ;)
You see, I have brought a car. I also only have my learners - as a mixture of apathy, one failed restricted test in my teens, medical conditions (occassional unexplained seizures means no driving for a couple of years if you aren't medicated, and I didn't much like the meds.) and an assorted array of convenient excuses have meant I have never really pursued getting behind the wheel since I was about 17 (when I did learn - in a manual and everything. In fact due to illness of my father on one trip I had to drive him back from Taupo, so driving is something I can in fact do - it's just been a while, and the law requires I have a baby sitter while doing so.)
My car, was a friends car, but she decided to move to Christchurch, and after the exchange of a princely sum (or not that much, or about right for the car, or something) I am now the proud owner of a dark blue 1993 Mazda Astina.
So, after remembering where the accelorometer and decelamatrix where, and finding that it being an auto made it all much more like playing a computer game than ACTUALLY driving in my estimation (compared to a manual) - the lesson with my father went well.
Wasn't much of a lesson in the sense of teaching, as he simply drove me across to the shore, from where I found a place to buy the mighty 'L' plates (L is short for L337 don't you know. ;) ) I took over the driving portion in a suitably quiet spot, then drove around into a less quiet spot to get petrol, then drove around some more. Culminating with my going back to the parents, doing some talking/having some foodage, then backing out of their lengthy driveway (with some assistance from my dad outside pointing and waving) and then driving across the bridge at night to get back to Ponsonby to find some bugger had stolen the spot outside my front door in which I would have preferred to park...
So really indeed I am a motorist, if a fledgling one, with my own set of wheels and all. Will still walk to work, because it's bugger all distance, and won't be able to drive much until the legalities of more additional licencing has been sorted out - but it's nice to be in the pool.
Is the sudden change a reaction to having been hit by a car? Probably, but I had been thinking about it before hand, and decided after getting hit that sorting out the driving thing would be on a list of priorities once my arm got better (which it is doing, thanks to physio and good surgeons.), and when I saw my friends car was for sale and she needed a quick sale due to the move it all seemed like the time.
So wish me luck... Or fear for your lives... Whatever comes naturally. ;)