And I ask myself "How did I get here?"

Yuck. Wednesday morning in Ullapool. Frost covers my car, sleet is falling steadily and it is the monthly driving test day. I have four pupils taking their test but, unusually, they all have the later test times, meaning I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast, I went back up the stairs to my room, then stopped…….. Where was I going? I had gone in completely the wrong direction.

Since I began staying at this hotel, they have invariably put me in a room on one side of the hotel. Last night they put me in a room on the other side. Consequently, after breakfast, my feet simply went where they usually go. My brain had switched off.
Is this an early warning sign of dementia? Will I need to start carrying a satnav just to get me around hotels? I can reassure myself that this is far from being a rare event. Everyone does this from time to time, even when they are driving.
My friend, Bearde, and I both passed our driving test soon after turning 17 and would drive around everywhere, enjoying the freedom that driving provides. I remember numerous times, when Bearde was driving, that we were so engrossed in our conversation that he would start driving somewhere completely different to where we had intended to go. On realising this, I would immediately question his direction, then immediately regret doing so because it would have been fun to see where we ended up.
Today is the first day ‘independent driving’ will be included in a test in Ullapool. But independent driving is nothing new…. Bearde and I were doing it years ago. Except, in our case, our driving was independent of our brains.

(Later, the same day….)

Of my four pupils, three of them passed. So congratulations to Kyle, Taylor and Kim on three nice drives, with only a few minor faults each. A big surprise that my other pupil did not pass - the examiner wasn’t completely satisfied with his observations on the parallel park, but, not being there, I can’t comment.

Ullapool does not have much in the way of road direction signs, so the independent driving section was very straightforward - three sequences of consecutive junctions. Two of my pupils asked me to sit on their tests and both of them were sensible enough to ask for confirmation of the directions when they weren’t sure. Just as they will have to do now they have passed their test, I advised them to know where they are going at each junction in plenty of time.

One of them did have me a little worried immediately before their test. They were going over how to switch between side-lights, dipped headlights, full-beam and fog lights (somewhat unnecessarily, I thought, as they knew all this, but I guess it was just nerves).
“So turning it away from me switches to side-lights, then dipped lights, and if I want full-beam I pull it towards me?”
“Yes.” I confirmed.
“Ok. So what happens if I click the switch up or down?”
I looked at them incredulously, waiting for the penny to drop…… it didn’t.
“Try it and see what happens.” I suggested.
They clicked the switch and immediately flushed with embarrassment as they realised it was the indicator switch.
“I can’t believe I just asked you that?” They apologised.
We’ll discreetly overlook that little ‘blip’ and I wish all three of you happy and safe driving.