A disappointing day ...

… for TP, he had his second driving test this morning and, again, didn't quite make the grade. He was understandably annoyed but he just needs to get another booked and persevere. His Driving Instructor reports that he need no further lessons and it seems that is just a case of it'll happen. I made suitable paternal positive noises but, even now, I can recall the disappointment and frustration following a failed driving test and wouldn't blame TP if he ignored these consolations.*

At this point I will reminisce and reach back almost thirty years to my motorcycle test. I had passed the off road element without problem and had then gone on to fail the first road test.** I recall that on the occasion of my second test I prepared by splashing out on a new pair of Learner Plates to replace the "minimalist" plates my bike usually carried. I took the test on my Honda CB 125 TDC and I recall that she looked suitably conformist on the day.

The allotted hour arrived and I met the Examiner. He outlined the initial circuit which took in a section of Evesham High Street and the residential roads that lead back towards the Briar Close Hospital. All was going well until I came up Albert Road and attempted to take a right tun on to the High Street. A van had parked illegally right on the junction and had totally obscured my view of oncoming traffic. I recall sitting there waiting for the van to move, unwilling to manoeuvre on to the High Street without a clear view. An Age seemed to pass and the monolithic van remained stationary. Eventually the Examiner wandered out to me in the middle of the road and advised me to inch out as I was starting to cause a jam. At that point I knew I had failed the test and thought "Fuck it!". I relaxed, certain that nothing I could do now could remediate that failing and just tootled around the course for the remainder of the test.

After the compulsory emergency stop I was summoned to the kerb where I dismounted and answered a set of questions from the Highway Code. I just wanted it to get it over with. I was therefore amazed when the last question was asked and the Examiner scribbled on his clipboard. He looked up and said that I had achieved the required standard and handed me the Pass certificate.

I just wonder whether TP is suffering from examination tension and just needs to relax a little for the test.

Other stuff

I spent my day at The Depot and, in the few spare minutes I had available, booked the Range Rover in for a service at MP Trading. I had a quick chat with Mark and he commented that I had got a fantastic price for the Defender as the market was not at it best at present. I'm not sure that makes up for the sense of loss that I feel for the Land Rover but it does mean that I could pick another one up at a reasonable price.

I also returned home to find a veritable plethora of parcels as my replacement battery charger and bike cover had arrived.

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* At seventeen he ignores a significant quantity of my utterances
** In those days the Examiner gave you a circuit, around which you rode, and he would wander around observing you from various vantage points.