The First Confident Drive.

Imagine the excitement of driving alone for the first time.. the thrill of finally being an independent woman who can get around in a new country alone.  She does not need her husband to drive her here and there .... That's an awesome feeling. If you don't have your driver's license... GET IT!... the power behind a wheel is an amazing feeling!

CAT Driver Training and Lotus Elise I drove

That has been the Feeling of the past day!

It has not been that wonderful for longer for one main reason.  ok ... 2.

1. One has to be competent to drive whatever car is at one's Disposal

2. One has to be ... confident.... to drive whatever car is at one's Disposal

I had neither.  In Trinidad tho I'm a beast on the road.. ok not a Beast .. but I'm as confident as any man.  I used to pride myself in the fact that I could drive a car expertly around the Trini roads, Dodging careless drivers and utilizing my horn when the annoying chupid driver came along and did something ... well .. chupid!.  I drove for many hours with one of my jobs... spanning the whole of the island; from Galeota Point to Chaguramas.  All these miles gave me confidence that could not be swayed.
Enter - a new country, a new ... a highly prized car ... and a husband.
Now don't get me wrong eh.... meh husband is an excellent driver (its one of those things I can't stand... a guy who can't drive properly) He has had training... so even when he drives fast, overtakes at what might seem to the normal eye at "blink of eye" speed, I have every confidence that he drives with 2 people in mind.  When a kid comes around tho ... I may be a little less tolerate ..(but I'm sure his paternal instincts will kick in then!)
But Now I have to drive on the right side of the road... and the steering wheel is on the left side.  Its so amazing how you can be confident on one side of the road and a wimp on the other.  Not to say that I was .. but I really didn't have a confident heart about it. 
Enter - CAT Driver Training. I did this course and like any driving course, your confidence levels shoot through the roof. You understand things that ... well that I did... instinctively ... but didn't have a name to it .. or a technique etc.  Mr. Colin Hoad is an AMAZING teacher.  If you are into Race car driving, formula 1 Racing, Soldexing, Rally Car racing ... Anything to do with a car ... he is your man! .. He has trained Famous Formula 1 Race car Drivers and even tho he has been in his business for 11 years ... he has more than 30 years behind cars, wheels and techniques.. Never in a million years did I imagine that  I would be racing around a circular track going as fast as I can go .. .as I dared really .... (the marking on the road floor was you had to be doing >100m/hr!)  It helps if you train at Internationally Renouned Car Proving Site as well. Check it out!
I only had one goal at the end of it all ..... Be Able and confident to drive my Husband's prized wheels.....
of course .... if that is the goal then I get to drive the car at the end of the training on the track right?.... YES I DID! ....

 I whispered to Colin before we drove away in the Z "I have to tell you, I'm petrified to drive his car" .."Don't be ... as horrid as it sounds... its just a piece of tin" Colin said... and before I even set off, my confidence had shot through the roof.And how amazing it was .... I had 3 cups of coffee that day and I was not down from my high until 1 hr after the training ...."So can I drive" I asked the hubby. " Aren't you tired?" ..." "umm no" Although about 1 hr after that I was so exhausted I couldn't stay awake in the car.

Millbrook Proving Grounds, UK

So yesterday was my first drive with the car ... all alone.... it was a thrilling feeling. I understand the  adrenaline that pumps into a formula 1 driver's veins just being behind the wheels. I no longer gripped the steering wheel with utter fear. In fact I even relaxed into the car....
The drive was smooth... i even "zoomed" a bit... overtook a truck on a stretch home .. powering it down like Colin had taught me...Thanks Colin!
If you've never done a Defensive Driving course ... Do it!...
Its amazing the things that we fear at times... the things that we are confident to do at one point and then become chicken at another. 
Never let fear of something, someone, somewhere grip you to the point of immobilization.  Everything is just tin... here today ... gone tomorrow.
Whey Yuh Say?

Gravol for Tunnels????

Every one knows that you get car sickness when you are being driven? ... Right? .. So how come mine comes along when I'm driving through Tunnels?.. Now, when I saw driving through tunnels.. I mean I AM the one driving.  YES I drove today! :)
Yes, boys and girls laddies and gallies .. I drove All the way home from church.  Don't I just feel like a brand new shilling! I was driving a Land Rover, so it was a bit bigger than I have ever driven (except in New Zealand when I drove an RV.) Sundays are great days to practice driving on the right side of the road - literally the right, since I'm accustomed to the left in Trinidad.  There are not as many people, no one is in a hurry .. and lucky for me it was a sunny day ... so people were like smoked bees.... calmer.

It was pretty cool that the hubby asked me if I wanted to drive when we were heading back home, since just that morning while I was having Caviar and Sliced Hardboiled eggs for my Breakfast ... (Caviar come in a tube ... how un-fancy) I was thinking that it would be nice to get to practice my driving more often.
I'm very proud of how I did, considering that I was driving a larger car, on the right hand side, and a manual car to boot. 
There was no sweating, no animals coming forth, no wild crazy thoughts... just the constant tugging in my head that I had to impress this man who is a crazy Formula 1 fan; who loves to drive fast and who, as with any sports car owner, was once embarassed when I was driving his Sports car "too slow" so that a truck passed us. hmpf!
Why then, if this day was going so beautifully well, did I start dreading the first tunnel we came upon.  I knew that as a passenger, I  close my eyes in the tunnels.  It is something about the lights and how it passes quickly and feels like a hypnotic light flashing that makes my stomach go upside down. The trick this time? I had to keep them open .. no matter what!.
Into the first one and I started to feel slightly whoosie...
Note: In Norway you are not allowed to pull over to the side of a 60+ speed zone road.  You can get a fine.  I remembered everything that I was supposed to rules wise on the road. But this rule was becoming more and more ridiculous to me.  After the 3rd tunnel I started  to will my eyes to stay open in the tunnel.
I started wondering if this was a temporary thing, or will I have to deal with this through every tunnel that I would have to drive through? Would I have to drug myself up on Gravol each time? ... Maybe some deep breathing every time I pass through a tunnel would help ... Maybe a air refreshner with citrus in it? Maybe just a beacon on top the car to shine the whole tunnel to block out the flashing lights?
Almost home. The last tunnel pretty much did me.  As we came out of it we had to curve around a feed off road.  "Um .. hon.... What happens if I have to puke?" where can I pull over?" ...
"If you want to puke tell me before you do so I'll drive"
"So does that mean I pull over into the rock?" I asked eyeing the rock right next to the road. 
This is not a road of shoulders where you can pull over and have a carib on the side of the road .. or pull out de ole Royal Oak. The road next to me stops because it has to... there is a rock that has been blasted away  to make it.  Not certain of what I mean?  yuh know when u coming from San Juan heading to Maracas? Yuh know just where the road turns right to join the Maracas Road and you go through a narrow pass of road that has rock on either side of it? ... yea ... its That close .... pretty much all the way.
No dearies ... this is the land of " yuh better keep pressing on, crash into a rock or go over a cliff."

Happily though, with one final urge from the hubby of " Its an 80 Zone!" .. I ex-ed my way to our final turn off ... swished through the narrow one lane twisty road in our neighbourhood, and confidently and gracefully cut off the car just before I park it.....  
Well if that isn't good timing ... I don't know what is! Whey yuh say?