Back to (driving) school

I had my first driving lesson today.

Whoa. Let me step back a little. I've had a UK license for 15 years, but when you become a resident of British Columbia your entitlement to use it expires after 90 days (which for me was around Christmas time). Unfortunately, there is no gentleman's agreement between Canada and the UK regarding license qualifications so they won't just hand me the B.C. equivalent. I have to pass a Canadian driving test. Doh! There's a knowledge test, medical and vision screening, and a road test. I passed the knowledge test only last week - that bit was pretty easy. The road test is more scary, so I figured I would get myself a bit of proper tuition before I attempted it.

And man, was that a good decision. After so much time behind the wheel, you develop some bad habits. I would say I am a decent driver, probably a little safer than average. Of course, everyone probably thinks that, and when you see the other drivers on the road you know that a lot of us must be kidding ourselves. I soon realised that important little things like mirror - signal - manoeuvre (or mirror - signal - shoulder check as it is here) had gotten a little lost along the way. Fifteen minutes into the lesson and I felt like a learner again. Apparently, I wasn't even turning the steering wheel right! Eeek. I'll have to practice hard and concentrate like hell if I am not going to screw up on the day.

On the plus side, I might end up being a better than average driver at the end of this, which would be nice.