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I was taking my driving test last summer and I was pretty nervous, naturally. Very natural considering that 3 days before the test I had been given a mock and managed to fail it 5 times over. And these nerves were not good, because when I get really nervous my leg starts to twitch something terrible (never noticed it until I had to do some public speaking in a skirt with jingley bits on it... my shaky speech had musical accompaniment).
Anyway, I'm miraculously doing alright, driving along the road, keeping to the speed limit, making a little small talk with the examiner to try and make him like me enough so he'll be nice. Now, I had just learnt how to do an emergency stop 20 minutes before the test - thank God I reminded my instructor! I say thank God because suddenly 4 kids ran across the road without looking! I screech to a halt and literally manage to stop 2 feet in front of one of the children (lucky there were no cars behind me!). I lean out the window and ask if he's okay. He looks pretty shaken up, so I look at my examiner, about to ask if I can get out and see if he's okay (I wasn't clear on the rules about this), when his mother comes running over. She makes sure her boy is okay and all, then starts tearing him a new one. How DARE he run into the middle of the road, why hadn't he used the crossing that was 10 feet away? etc. (I don't think she was being overly mean to the boy, especially remembering what my mum did to my sister when she did something similar. I do think she she should have pulled him back onto the pavement sooner though, so I could stop blocking off the lane, but there were very few cars, and they all used the other lane, no problems.)
The mother looks over at me, and she sees that I'm sitting with a man in a high-vis vest, which can only mean I'm taking my test. She calls to me that she's very, very sorry and makes her son apologise too. I tell them, "It's okay, but please get out of the road, I'd like to see if I can salvage this test!"
The mother then addresses my examiner. "She hasn't failed because of my son, has she? If so, I'll pay for the test."
"No, she's doing fine, but please do get out of the road!"
She left and I continued on my merry way, not having uttered a single curse word (which I had been having real problems with when learning).
My legs were shaking pretty violently after that, but I managed to hold the speed steady and even do a parallel park and 3-point turn in a manual (no easy feat when you can't keep your feet still on the peddles properly)! Got to the end of the test, still shaking in the legs (I don't know if he even noticed!). I turn to him, fulling expecting to have failed, but he just smiles, says "Well done, only 3 minor mistakes. You've passed!" and hands me my certificate and takes my provisional license from me.
I had to ask, "But, what about the kids in the road? Surely I didn't handle that right?" (I was thinking that something like this automatically failed you)
"You can't control kids running into the road, and how could you have handled it better than stopping before you hit them, and not jumping out of the car and swearing at them?"
"Shouldn't I have gotten out and helped the kid?"
"Since his mother was there to sort him out, no. It was good of her to offer to pay for your test."
"Yeah... kinda wish I'd lied to get the money back..."
"Also, you were very composed throughout, that was impressive. Whenever that's happened before I've had to stop the exam because people just freaked out too much over it."
"...I'm just a very calm, collected person, really..."
My instructor, who had come over once we'd pulled up, heard that last part and burst out laughing. "Miss Swear-A-Lot, did you just claim to be calm and collected? Your legs are still shaking! You've been doing that for 2 hours straight now!"
I nodded, "I know..." I then got out of the car, and promptly fell over as my shaking leg gave way under me. It was somewhat like a cartoon. "I'm okay..." Face down on the pavement.
Anyway, I'm miraculously doing alright, driving along the road, keeping to the speed limit, making a little small talk with the examiner to try and make him like me enough so he'll be nice. Now, I had just learnt how to do an emergency stop 20 minutes before the test - thank God I reminded my instructor! I say thank God because suddenly 4 kids ran across the road without looking! I screech to a halt and literally manage to stop 2 feet in front of one of the children (lucky there were no cars behind me!). I lean out the window and ask if he's okay. He looks pretty shaken up, so I look at my examiner, about to ask if I can get out and see if he's okay (I wasn't clear on the rules about this), when his mother comes running over. She makes sure her boy is okay and all, then starts tearing him a new one. How DARE he run into the middle of the road, why hadn't he used the crossing that was 10 feet away? etc. (I don't think she was being overly mean to the boy, especially remembering what my mum did to my sister when she did something similar. I do think she she should have pulled him back onto the pavement sooner though, so I could stop blocking off the lane, but there were very few cars, and they all used the other lane, no problems.)
The mother looks over at me, and she sees that I'm sitting with a man in a high-vis vest, which can only mean I'm taking my test. She calls to me that she's very, very sorry and makes her son apologise too. I tell them, "It's okay, but please get out of the road, I'd like to see if I can salvage this test!"
The mother then addresses my examiner. "She hasn't failed because of my son, has she? If so, I'll pay for the test."
"No, she's doing fine, but please do get out of the road!"
She left and I continued on my merry way, not having uttered a single curse word (which I had been having real problems with when learning).
My legs were shaking pretty violently after that, but I managed to hold the speed steady and even do a parallel park and 3-point turn in a manual (no easy feat when you can't keep your feet still on the peddles properly)! Got to the end of the test, still shaking in the legs (I don't know if he even noticed!). I turn to him, fulling expecting to have failed, but he just smiles, says "Well done, only 3 minor mistakes. You've passed!" and hands me my certificate and takes my provisional license from me.
I had to ask, "But, what about the kids in the road? Surely I didn't handle that right?" (I was thinking that something like this automatically failed you)
"You can't control kids running into the road, and how could you have handled it better than stopping before you hit them, and not jumping out of the car and swearing at them?"
"Shouldn't I have gotten out and helped the kid?"
"Since his mother was there to sort him out, no. It was good of her to offer to pay for your test."
"Yeah... kinda wish I'd lied to get the money back..."
"Also, you were very composed throughout, that was impressive. Whenever that's happened before I've had to stop the exam because people just freaked out too much over it."
"...I'm just a very calm, collected person, really..."
My instructor, who had come over once we'd pulled up, heard that last part and burst out laughing. "Miss Swear-A-Lot, did you just claim to be calm and collected? Your legs are still shaking! You've been doing that for 2 hours straight now!"
I nodded, "I know..." I then got out of the car, and promptly fell over as my shaking leg gave way under me. It was somewhat like a cartoon. "I'm okay..." Face down on the pavement.
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