After a filling full Scottish breakfast, my first lesson was at 8am with Jayanne, who had not yet driven the Fiat. She very quickly adapted to the new car, as far as clutch/accelerator was concerned. She had been one of two Ullapool pupils who had stuck with their previous instructor’s methods for the reversing manoeuvres, i.e. with reliance on ‘reference points’. Of course, with a different car, these reference points would be different, but she coped ok with the change. My only concern, with her test a couple of hours later, was that there were traffic lights at the roadworks just after a bend on a steep section of the road to Ardfearn, and there were also roadworks right on the uphill junction opposite The Ceilidh Place. In addition, there were also two tour bus-loads of elderly tourists wandering absent-mindedly around the village, but Jayanne (and the others) would be used to that.
I dropped Jayanne off then picked up Eilidh, on the other side of the village, for a ten-minute lesson before her 9.37am test. The temperature had risen a few degrees, from -2C first thing, and it looked like it was going to be a glorious day. With no test centre to wait in, I took a stroll around the village, while I waited for Eilidh to return. Sadly, she did not pass. She picked up 2 serious faults: One for her observations on the left reverse, and the second for going too wide on the same manoeuvre. A bit of a surprise, from my point of view, as she had not had a problem with the manoeuvre before, and she certainly was not someone I expected to pick up a fault for observations. I wasn’t completely sure about her attitude afterwards; she didn’t mind failing because she didn’t really expect to pass first time (although I was concerned about her lack of recent lessons, I know she was definitely capable of passing). However, I would rather her have that attitude than be the opposite and put too much pressure on herself.
Next I had to dash to pick up Jed for a ten-minute lesson and his 10.44am test. I have had many pupils who have only had a few hours of lessons before passing their test, but they have all had previous instructors, or have had lots of practice with friends or family. My record for teaching someone from scratch, with no other practice, was Catriona three years ago, who passed after 21 hours of lessons. If Jed passed, he would smash that record, having only had 12 hours (and ten minutes) of lessons with me, and no other experience of driving a car. He passed with only four minor faults. I wish I could explain it. Some people can take 70 - 80 hours, Jed took 12. It just seemed that, whatever I taught him, he completely absorbed it and….. just did it. Thinking back, I can’t really think of anything I had to keep working on with Jed. Often, a new pupil concentrates so hard on mastering pedal control and looking ahead, that they would forget other things, especially mirrors. Not Jed; right from the second lesson, if I asked him to take the next turn on the right, for example, he would check rear mirror, right mirror, consider when to indicate, think about his position, bring his speed down progressively, change to the appropriate gear and look ahead and into the new road before turning with accuracy - textbook stuff. I’m glad I don’t have many pupils like Jed, otherwise I would have a very empty diary.
Jayanne had walked down to the Test Centre as Jed’s test was coming to an end. A quick ten minute ‘warm up’ then she was out on her test.
Jayanne is a really thoughtful driver and, despite the change of car, I was quite confident about her test. So my heart sank when, after she had returned to the pottery car park, the examiner opened his door - almost always a bad sign. She picked up a serious fault during the left reverse; she was watching an approaching car and, instead of stopping while watching, the car bumped the curb. My pupils KNOW to deal with problems one at a time: If they see a vehicle/cyclist/pedestrian approaching (during a manoeuvre), they should STOP and assess what that person is doing. Alternatively, if they think they are getting out of position, they should also stop and check for vehicles/cyclists/pedestrians before correcting their position. With this method, I have not had a pupil pick up a serious fault for a left reverse in almost a year. Today I had two pupils fail for this manoeuvre. Strange.
One new pupil, one upcoming-test pupil and one no-show pupil (she did call later with profuse apologies - she had simply forgot) later, I set off on the sixty mile trip back to Inverness for my last two hours.
For various reasons, it has been a very busy and eventful week, and, for that, I awarded myself (and Jane) a generous dram of Talisker when I finally reached home. Sometimes you just have to treat yourself.
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