I have always fancied the idea of driving; all my friends do it, how hard can it be?
I have always dreamt of owning a motorhome; exploring the world in my home on wheels, attending festivals and exploring new parts of the UK, but that has never been enough to actually drive me (excuse the pun) to finally get the confidence and sign up for lessons.
But then during this pandemic I started this hippie clothing business and I started getting offers of festival pitches.
I couldn’t expect my friends to keep driving me and all my stock/equipment to these locations; so the time had finally come. Also my mum’s recent cancer diagnosis has meant a friend has had to keep driving her from Brighton to London for her treatment (thank you David, I will never forget it), which was an occasion I really wished I had my own vehicle.
I’m 56 years old and have not even sat behind the wheel of a car.
It has not been as easy to sign up to the lessons either. There is such a backlog of people wanting to get ready for their test (due to the pandemic lockdowns), that I got turned down time and again.
But after a lot of hard work and a lot of emails; I finally found a lady in Hampton, where I live.
Finally finding the guts to sign up for driving lessons felt really good and the new confidence was helped by my friend Louise who let me sit behind the driving seat of her new car to see how it felt. I felt confident and excited; its finally happening!!!
These will be the first driving lesson of my entire life.
While I was at it, I also wanted to learn to ride a scooter (the motorbike kind not those electric death traps), so that I can hire a scooter when I go back to India; squeezing in my CBT training in-between my other driving lessons.