Taking the plunge

I've never understood how people learned to drive so quickly. For a while at school it seemed as though you had your 17th birthday and the week after were given your driving license. That was certainly the case with my twin brother.

And as a 16- year-old I thought I would take the same path. I had a car waiting for me to share with my brother and a promise of driving lessons from my parents. I even had an eye test and got some £200 FCUK glasses for my ever so slightly impaired eyesight.

But when it came down to it, I could never quite fill out the form.

You see as a child I had a couple of epileptic fits, which required another form and the whole palaver got a little too much for me. My brother was the obvious beneficiary. He got more of my parent’s money for lessons and a fully insured car all to himself to drive around the streets of Cambridgeshire. Meanwhile I scrounged lifts.

Anyway travelling and university ensued and even though I planned to learn to drive at different points, I could never quite organise myself. There must be a library's worth of half filled out provisional license forms around the place along with unsigned cheques as the fees slowly crept higher.

Not only was a lack of a provisional license a barrier to driving, but it was also a barrier to getting into the pub. On numerous occasions I would walk the length of Broad Street shitting myself as to whether I would get in with my best friend Stevie reminding me of how stupid I was in an aggravated tone!

My passport was the only ID that would suffice in it's place, which was often too valuable to take to Lloyds bar due to a forthcoming trip or previously lost on a night out.

A major breakthrough
Eventually I took the first step. It must have been about 2008 and with time to spare I took a day to get the photos, write the cheque and fill out what must have been my 26th provisional application.

For the two years since it has sat proudly in my wallet, during which time I have not needed for ID once. Again things got the better of me, and feeling exhausted from the whole 'applying for my provisional' experience I put the lessons on hold.

Over the past few months I have got closer though. I earmarked my bonus in March for driving lessons. But in the process of getting the best quote I spent the money on booze and a holiday.

However, redundancy has provided the perfect opportunity. It’s given me, not only the money but also the time. Last week I marched into the nearest BSM (about 3 mins walk) and booked 10 lessons without even considering the price. When they said 'do you want to book a couple of hours in the simulator first?' which must be a con, I said 'yes of course I do'.

Open road, here I come.