It's a thin line between love and hate.

It didn't all go to plan last week.
I have one pupil who, clearly, can handle a car. He is so tall that, when sat in the driver seat, his knees are as high as his hands. Whether it is a result of being influenced by how others drive, or whether it is just overconfidence, I'm not sure, but we have spent a lot of time just slowing things down, especially on the approach to junctions. He has put a lot of effort in and I was very confident that he would pass his test with ease.
Wednesday morning, especially with his test being around the time of children going to school, I reminded him that the driving test is not a race, he needed to demonstrate complete control, awareness and safety. Perhaps I put too much emphasis on this because he failed for not getting up to speed when appropriate - he was doing 45mph in a 60mph road. Ironic, as it was on the road where he lives. But, with several hours of rain before his test, we had discussed the fact that 60mph would not be an appropriate speed in such conditions. So I feel especially responsible, although maybe 45mph was a bit slow.
Like many aspects of driving, it is quite a skill achieving the correct balance. There is a fine line between being cautious and being hesitant. And there is a similarly fine line between being confident and being cocky.
When I have very new, nervous pupils, I try to build up their confidence on quiet roads where it is not so important that we get up to an appropriate speed. But, although my pupils are my priority, I always try to consider the vehicles coming up behind us. So, when we start venturing out onto busier roads, we usually work on 'making progress' (looking for safe opportunities to get quickly up to an appropriate speed).
I had a lesson with Beth this afternoon that could not have gone more to plan. She has had about 5 or 6 lessons, and all is going well, but I just felt that we could get going a wee bit more when it is safe to do so. So we talked about the concept of 'making progress' and the consequences of not getting up to speed when it was safe to do so. She worked hard on this and, as we neared the end of the lesson, she was accelerating more confidently, getting up through the gears, and quickly reaching 'appropriate speeds'. As we were heading home we came up behind a Mercedes doing about 15 - 20mph on a clear 30mph road. The slightly winding nature of the road meant that overtaking was not an option. But it was interesting watching how Beth's uncertainty over the car ahead began changing to irritation at the fact that she was forced to go at a speed slower than she would have liked (a speed she probably would have been happy with at the start of the lesson). A queue of 5 or 6 cars had built up behind us and I reassured Beth that this was not her fault, but she could now understand why 'making progress' was important. We pulled over as the road opened up and watched as the queuing cars all accelerated above the speed limit to overtake the Mercedes.
 A week or so ago, I wrote about the futility of overtaking streams of traffic travelling at appropriate speeds. But today was a good lesson in understanding why going too slow is equally inconsiderate and potentially dangerous. 

You can dance.

I met Madonna last night, it was for a television show. The last couple of years the BBC have had a show called 'So you think you can dance.' They have scrapped it this year, but are doing something called 'So you think you CAN'T dance' instead. The idea is to take someone who can't dance and train them to be good enough to be one of Madonna's dancers for the UK dates of her world tour.
Now, one of my family or 'friends' put my name forward. I was slightly hurt by this. It's been a few years since I used to throw caution to the wind and let loose on the dancefloor. But I do bust a few moves to James Brown, et al ,when I am cooking, and I did take one of the leading roles during the 'I got a feeling' pod dance for my brother's wedding.... Perhaps that's it... Perhaps someone from the wedding sent a video of that dance into the BBC? Anyway, I was selected to be one of the eight people to make it to the television show. Very nervous, but very exciting.
So last night we went to the studio for the first time and I met the other seven. Most of them seem very easy to get on with, and I'm surprised that not all are younger than me. Then Madonna came in. We weren't expecting that. She was very personable, charming and beguiling. She is also surprisingly informal, yet still very professional.
We were going to take it in turns to dance in front of her - VERY scary. We had to wait in a waiting room with a table overflowing with buffet food - which I thought very odd. Anyway, by the time it was my turn, Madonna had gone home and Louis Spence had taken her place. I immediately walked out. And then I woke up.
Very weird. What was particularly weird about the dream was how unbelievably clear and detailed it was. I remember production staff trying different footwear on me; I remember different foods on the buffet table; and I remember the look on Louis Spence's face when I walked through the door.
Sorry. There are few things more boring than other people's dreams, but I still can't get over how real it was. Worrying.
Fortunately the rest of my week was far less camp. In fact, it was a very full-on week, as far as lessons and tests were concerned. Congratulations to Mhairi, Fergus and James, who all passed their at the first attempt this week. Mhairi was supposed to have taken her test last December and was understandably disappointed when it was cancelled due to snow. She rebooked for January but had to cancel that one due to school exams. But, to her credit, she didn't give up on her lessons and it paid off when she passed with just one minor error. An excellent drive.
 Congratulations also to Marcus, who passed his test this week. He was so close to passing when he took his first test, but signalled too late on a 60mph road = 1 serious fault.  A much better feeling for him after this week's test.
The week finished of with some very exciting news..... But I can't tell you about it just yet.... Maybe next week.
Sweet dreams.

Rat race.

Once again, a bit of snow seems to be bringing havoc to the roads.
It's funny how a few inches of snow in England becomes HEADLINE NEWS when far worse conditions north of the border rarely get more than the briefest of mentions. The reporter on Breakfast just now said "Here, in Worcestershire, we had half a centimetre of snow overnight." that's not news! That barely even qualifies as 'weather'.
Driving is all about reading the road ahead and making adjustments for the conditions. 'Conditions' include traffic and road conditions, not just weather.
One of life's little pleasures is watching other drivers NOT reading the road ahead. Admittedly this is morally dubious, like watching Alex Ferguson's blood pressure rise when things aren't going his way.
The A96, the road linking Inverness and Aberdeen, is great for Bad Driver watching. In general, it is a fairly free-flowing 60mph road (apart from the occasional tractor driver who is less considerate than most tractor drivers). In a perfect world, with good weather conditions, everyone would be driving at 57 - 60mph on the straights, easing of the accelerator in good time for the bends and roundabouts, and keeping a minimum of a 2 second gap between them and the vehicle ahead....... "in a perfect world". But, as we are reminded every day, this isn't a perfect world. There are plenty of drivers that drive at speeds significantly less than appropriate. But, who knows, maybe they are transporting something fragile? Maybe they....... (I'm struggling to think of other valid reasons for driving far too slow for the conditions). And, of course, there are plenty of drivers who think that speed limits do not apply to them, as A & E units (and undertakers) around the country will testify.
Almost every day I travel along the A96. What fascinates me is wondering what on earth its going on in the heads of some of the drivers? Early morning and late afternoon, there will usually be a continuous stream of vehicles in each direction, at consistent speeds of 50 - 60 mph. Let's take the 16 mile journey from Nairn to Inverness as an example:
In a perfect world, with everyone travelling at 60mph (and ignoring the slowing down for the three roundabouts), it would take 16 minutes to complete the journey. If, heaven forbid, you had to 'endure' sitting in traffic at 55mph, you would reach your destination a mere 87 seconds later. Even if the flow of traffic was down to 50mph, your journey would still only take a fraction over 3 minutes longer. I am sure that no-one would ever mind setting their alarm clock 4 minutes earlier (so they could allow a few minutes extra for their journey), yet so many people seem to hate sitting in steadily flowing traffic, a touch under the speed limit. Consequently, I watch with fascination/ horror/ amusement as drivers take sometimes considerable risks (and use a lot more fuel) to overtake a car or two, wait a couple of miles for another overtaking opportunity, overtake another car, wait for another opportunity etc. It so often happens that the Audi (and other cars), sitting right up behind me as I head out of Nairn, is maybe 5 or 6 vehicles (= 20 seconds) ahead of me as we reach Inverness.
Even if, like some Audi drivers, you don't believe the speed limit applies to you and you raced to Inverness at 70mph, you would only arrive just over 2 minutes before someone sticking to the speed limit. Meanwhile, you have used significantly more fuel, risked a fine, points on your license and, most importantly, risked the lives of others.
I love driving. I love the sensation of speed. And I will overtake when it is safe and necessary to do so. But I also love getting to my destination early simply because I allowed plenty of time of time for the journey, not because I risked overtaking every vehicle in front of me.
Do yourself a favour - leave a few minutes earlier and leave the anxiety and blood pressure to Alex Ferguson.