All's well that ends well.

A strange day. One that never seemed to be going to plan, but just seemed to fall into place.

Arran’s test, his first attempt was at 8.40am, so I had arranged to pick him up at 7.30am for an hour lesson/‘warm-up’. Usually I would get a clear run through to Inverness at that time of morning, but some slow traffic ahead meant that I was 5 minutes late getting to Arran’s. I was therefore surprised to find myself waiting for him, especially with only an hour to go before his test. Just as I was about to call him, his mother came out on her way to work.
“Is Arran on his way?” I asked.
“Erm….. I’ll check.” A minute later she came back. “He says his lesson is at 8.40.”
“No, his test is at 8.40, but we agreed on an hour lesson beforehand.”
“Oh….” and back she went (presumably making herself late for work) to check with Arran.
Arran came to the car a few minutes later, looking as though he had not long woken up. “Sorry, I got it wrong.”
In what little time we had remaining before his test, we had a brief practice at each manoeuvre and I gave my usual pep talk, mainly to reassure him that it would be just like a driving lesson and that he was easily good enough to pass.
I remember the lesson before my own driving test. It was horrendous and did nothing to give me confidence. Arran was having a similar time. He stalled a few times, made a mess of some of the manoeuvres and was causing me to give far more instruction than I would have liked. We quickly ran out of time and headed to the test centre. Ewan, the Senior Examiner met us. “I’m sorry. Your test will not be going ahead.” (It was ‘only’ -2C, but much of last week’s snow had turned to ice. This was especially disappointing for Arran as his test had already been rescheduled once after being cancelled due to snow in December.
“How long do you think Arran will have to wait?” I asked, dreading being told ‘April or May’.
Ewan looked out of the window at the clear, blue sky. “Can you do this afternoon?” Was the surprising reply (he obviously presumed the ice would melt). I had other lessons and appointments, but I might be able to rearrange them.
I looked at Arran for his reaction (but I already knew he had the whole day off). When I didn’t get a reaction I said that we should be able to make the afternoon.
“I need to make a call,” (presumably to one of the examiners) “but, shall we say 2.30pm?”
I was very impressed. It would have been all too easy for Ewan to say ‘You will receive a letter giving you your next test date’, which would have been a shame for Arran.

I dropped Arran back at home, rearranged my 12.30pm lesson, made a nuisance of myself in the BSM office, took Kevin for his kindly rearranged lesson, then returned to Arran’s. He was looking a little more awake, but the few hours wait had done nothing for his nerves. I reassured him that he WILL be nervous for the first few minutes, but those nerves will pass once he gets going and, if he concentrates, the 45 minutes will fly by.
It did the trick. Arran came back, with a slightly shocked smile and a blue pass certificate, with only three minor faults - excellent. Obviously, Arran is not a 'morning person'.

The rest of the day progressed in a similar vein: Problems, troubles and niggles to begin, but everything working out perfectly as the day went on.
I like this kind of day.