Wrong.
She has mostly been driving an automatic.
Yesterday we spent half an hour at the netball field carpark (after a sound win I might add...so she was in good spirits) just driving round the lanes, doing right and left hand turns and learning how to change up and down from first to second and back. You forget how instinctive it becomes when you have been driving for thirty years.
She did ok for a first lesson. Steering, or rather over-steering is a common beginner's trait and the whole alternate foot action of accelerator and clutch are like learning to waltz I guess. Or not. Anyway, 'flipper foot', as we call it, was proving somewhat challenging yesterday and the engine on my little Corolla was getting a good revving out from time to time.
The main thing was, we ended up still speaking and we did not connect with any solid objects; and I am laying bets on who makes the the first comment which mentions my proclivity for doing just that!
My own driving instruction was a staggered, if not staggering, event.
I got my Learner's Permit at 16 just like the BA and my Dad and I duly did the whole father/daughter learn to drive ritual which ended, predictably, in dark brows and no one speaking to each other. He then handed the job over to Kindergarten Friend who taught me well but gave up on teaching me to parallel park (or maybe I gave up, I can't remember). Parallel parking also resulted in the infamous adventure with my mum's floorsweeper. One day I used it as a marker pole to practise my parallel parking. I ran over it. So I put it back in the cupboard.
Eventually dad forked out $$$ for 6 professional lessons and at 19 I finally became a fully fledged driver. And went through a red light on the way home from the test.
Let's hope the BA has more innate talent than I do.
