Never mind the ballads

Slowly, but surely, everything is getting more bland and sugary. It seems that almost every other song on telly or the radio is a boring ballad. Or else they take a once great song (by The Smiths or Blondie, for example) and water it down to make a 'pleasant' soundtrack to some tv ad. And don't even get me started on The X Factor.... To describe it as 'bland, boring, overblown, commercial crap' would be harsh on all other bland, boring, overblown, commercial crap.
I've written similar stuff before, but finding some old home-compilation cds in a box in the loft the other day, I came across such gems as Magazine's Shot by both sides, and The Slits Typical Girls, amongst others, and it really emphasised how much we need a similar injection of energy into music again. I will be eternally grateful if anyone can point me in the direction of any new music that is at least half as exciting.
Mini-rant over.
Last Thursday brought an end to a good run of driving test passes. I was as confident as it was possible to be that my pupil would pass. Recent lessons have been trying to take his driving to an advanced standard. So I was very surprised when he didn't pass. Whilst driving at 60mph towards Lossiemouth, he was asked to take the next left, but left his signal too late. He was possibly distracted by the car behind, which was too close, but this should have meant all the more reason for signalling early.
Previously, I had had 8 consecutive pupils passing. Last week Jonathan passed in Inverness. Jonathan is a music teacher at Gordonstoun school, but has recently accepted a position on the island of Montserrat, in the West Indies. He had already passed his driving test in an automatic, but the company car he is being offered in his new job is a manual. He had some lessons with J-Drive in Elgin, but, being unable to get a test before his flight, had no choice but to take his test in Inverness. Many thanks to Jason, from J-Drive, for recommending me to Jonathan (as Jason doesn't cover Inverness). So, a little bit of pressure because he wouldn't have had time for a second attempt before his flight, but he passed well with just three driver faults.
A few days earlier Liam became one of my youngest pupils to pass (also with 3 driver faults), just a few weeks after his 17th birthday. In May this year he had already become the youngest player to make his debut for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, so this capped a very good year for him.
 Saturday I took a whole day off and spent most of it experimenting in the kitchen, trying out different ideas for Christmas dinner. The peanut butter and cherry parfait wasn't too bad, but I have yet to try the potted confit duck and Earl Grey-soaked prunes. If they don't work out we may have to resort to Anna's choice - prawn cocktail.
A bit of a thaw is forecast, which is welcome. Yesterday, snow, ice and temperatures dropping to -8C did nothing to enhance my driving pleasure (although an Iggy Pop cd did). While I'm on the subject of weather, I would like to praise and thank my pupils for their attitude towards their lessons. I have had more test cancellations than lesson cancellations due to the weather. This attitude was typified by Sophie yesterday morning, who made a 3 hour round trip in the snow, from Kinlochbervie, for a one hour lesson.

Finally, I am beginning to wonder if I really exist. I have just spent an hour trying to arrange insurance renewal for Jane's Nissan Navara. Sorting out insurance is not the most exciting pastime - even less so when it is classed as a commercial vehicle. On Direct Line's website it asked for my occupation, then gave me a massive list to choose from (it wouldn't let me type in 'Driving Instructor'). Occupations on this list include Archpriest, Axeman, Bacon Curer, Busker, Embalmer, Foam converter, Lampshade maker, Pearl stringer, Whaler and (honestly) Spiderman! But NO DRIVING INSTRUCTOR!?!? I have seen the damage done to a bus when the bus driver drove into the back of me, so I know I exist, but apparently not where insurance companies are concerned.

I wonder where I apply for the job of Spiderman?

Complete control

I did something this morning I haven't done in quite a while; I sat and had a chat with other instructors (Fraser, very experienced, and Jaqui, very new, both from Forres) while my pupil was out on test. Always nice to get different perspectives and get to know the people I wave to each day as we pass by.
It was my pupil's first attempt. He actually started lessons with me way back in Spring 2010, but had trouble passing his theory test, otherwise he would have taken his driving test long ago.
I remember his early lessons. A relative bought him a block of ten lessons when I was still with BSM and the early lessons were a bit of a struggle. He lives in Lossiemouth, a fishing village/town with a fantastic beach on one side and an RAF base on the other. The original village is built on a grid system on a hill, with the buildings built very close to the roads. This means lots of uphill and downhill closed (blind) crossroads. From an instructor's point of view, it is a great place to teach junctions and clutch control - driving uphill to a blind give-way, the pupil either has to be very precise with their clutch control, or they just have to stop and apply the handbrake. Obviously, I didn't start my pupil on these tough junctions, but, as he progressed, the fact that he lived in Lossiemouth was an opportunity not to be wasted and we spent many lessons trying to perfect his control.
The test centre is at the larger town of Elgin, just a few miles inland. After about ten lessons my pupil asked me why we had not yet gone into Elgin; some of his friends were questioning the fact that he had still not had any lessons in the larger town and boasted that their instructors had got them going round Elgin test routes within their first ten hours. I stuck to my guns and reassured him that, once we had mastered his clutch control and approach to junctions in Lossie, Elgin would be easy.
And so it proved: In December I wrote about how impressed I was a particular pupil's ability and control whilst tackling the gradients of Elgin in the snow and ice, while more experienced drivers were struggling, slipping and wheelspinning. It was this pupil. The only problem was, having no computer, he had to go to the library or relatives to practice his theory and hazard perception - not ideal - and took several attempts to finally pass.
No such problem today; he passed his driving test easily, first time. I was curious about the de-brief. The examiner faulted him a couple of times for not using the handbrake. The problem was that his clutch control had become so precise, he could easily hold the car perfectly still on a steep incline, just by using the biting point and accelerator. Very impressive, but not ideal for the car, and I have told him that, if he has plenty of time to apply and release the handbrake (i.e. maybe 5 seconds or more), then he should use it. Perhaps his friends were right. Perhaps we did spend too much time on those junctions in Lossiemouth after all.
Anyway, very well-done Anthony. It was all worthwhile in the end.

110% Pass Rate

Who doesn't use Google these days? Does anyone use Yahoo, Alta Vista, Ask Jeeves, Cuil, Lycos, Excite or Dogpile anymore? I thought I would give Microsoft's Bing a try this morning. I typed in 'Driving instructor' and added various locations and was then alarmed to see that it came up 'Martin's Driving: My pass rate plummets'. Not really what I want people to see when they are searching for a driving instructor! Of course, this was a link to a previous post where, after picking up my new car I had a run of passes (so, 100%), but one fail in seven tests dropped my pass rate (in my new car) to 86%.
So, to counter this adverse publicity I thought I had better write this post so that anyone in Lossiemouth, Elgin, Forres, Nairn, Inverness, Culloden, Ullapool, etc looking for a driving instructor might be enticed by Bing listing this post's title instead of the 'pass rate plummets' title. Yes, I know it is impossible to have a pass rate of 110%, but if footballers and talent show contestants are allowed to say they "Gave it 110%", why can't I?
I'm sticking with Google in future.

(Edit: I totted up my pupils' test results since I started Farle Driving School at the start of July and, over 36 tests, there have been 27 passes and 9 fails - A not-too-shabby pass rate of 75%. On the X Factor  this weekend Simon Cowell just made some reference to "One hundred million percent".... That would be an impressive pass rate)