Awww, I'm disappointed today.
The other day I started off with a six hour Pass Plus course, followed by a two hour lesson with someone who has their test next week, then, to finish the day, the last lesson for a pupil before her test. A long day.
The Pass Plus pupil was someone who had passed their driving test in England, last Spring, but had recently moved to Scotland. In between they had not been able to much driving due to working abroad. I was horrified. Pass Plus is part instruction, but part assessment. They have already passed their test, so I should not need to teach them the basics, but we look at how we can improve their driving with respect to Town driving, rural driving, night driving, bad weather driving, dual-carriageways and motorways. There are no motorways within 100 miles of here and they had to be back in Inverness by 3 o'clock, so night driving and motorways had to be addressed in theory, but not in practice.
To say their driving was 'rusty' was a severe understatement. After fifteen minutes driving around Inverness I asked them to stop so that I could put the 'L'-plates back on. I lied and told him that it was because he was 'under instruction' and I had forgotten to put them on to start with. In truth it was because I wanted other drivers not to expect my pupil's driving to be that great. He had wanted to do the six hour course in one go because he lived so far away from Inverness. I always interrupt a 6-hour lesson with a tea break, otherwise it is too long for someone to concentrate, but it was still a very long 6 hours. Instead of me assessing his driving and offering advanced instruction only when necessary, I found myself having to give almost constant instruction. In fact, at the end of the course, for the first time ever, I had to explain that I did not think he was yet at the required standard (and I was being very diplomatic) and more instruction would be needed before I could sign off his Pass Plus assessment. It was not the most pleasant lesson I have ever given.
The next lesson wasn't great either. This pupil's driving has improved rapidly and, with his test booked for next week, he was easily at the required standard.... until this lesson. I don't know what happened, maybe a lack of concentration, but he began making quite basic errors and this led to worse driving and more errors. Not a good day so far.
My last lesson, was therefore, like relaxing in a scented bath, sipping Lagavulin and listening to Beth Orton's The sweetest decline after eight hours sitting in a tub of ants while chewing tin foil and being forced to listen to the X Factor's Aiden Grimshaw and Wagner take it in turns to sing Westlife songs and scrape their nails down a blackboard. Tracy's lesson was so good and so smooth that I could have nodded off. Where, a few weeks ago, she had been very worried about taking her test, we were both now full of confidence.
So today was the day of her test. The lesson before was not her best, but that often happens. She asked me to sit in on the test and, unfortunately, nerves just got the better of her. One early minor fault played on her mind and she began to make more mistakes, including a couple of serious faults. I just need to reassure her that I think her driving is (usually) excellent, but rushing around the test route will not get the test finished any earlier. I will just add that I thought the examiner was excellent, particularly in the manner she tried to relax Tracy.
My birthday today, and it was great to receive so many emails and facebook messages. Just a shame that Tracy passing her test would have been the most welcome present. On the bright side, it does mean I get to enjoy her driving again.
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