In my last driving lessons blog post, I mentioned the fact that my learning process is being put on hold due to late hours at work during the 5 day week, and the need for me to use the weekend to rest and recover in order to have some semblance of a life. I still need to get my full UK licence, and have been considering taking crash course driving lessons as an alternative to my weekly sessions with my instructor which I haven't had now for almost 2 months.
I have been doing some research, looking at various organisations that offer intensive lessons to pass the practical car test in a week or 2 weeks including my NW London driving instructor, and the cost and options vary a lot, ranging from £800 to £2500 for the ones that offer guaranteed test pass options and are residential in nature.
One thing that is definately evident, is that it is a lot of hard work, you have one chance of passing (though odds are highly in your favour), it is not a 100% guarantee in which case you have to wait 10 days even if you get a free re-test and no charge on the extra tuition.
While I quite like the idea of a crash course of 30 driving lessons to pass the driving test in a week, I don't want to waste almost 14 days of my holidays on learning to drive, and the cost also means that I won't be able to take a proper holiday until next year, so at the moment I'm really undecided on what to do.
What I would really love is was for work to ease of, so I can return to my regular 2hr driving lessons, but due to the current economic climate, there is a freeze on taking in additional temps at my workplace, so it is probably going to be late autumn before things start to cool down.
I will still keep my options open, as I'm determined to get my licence this year, so there is still a good chance that I might bite the bullet, take the intensive driving crash course (if only life was predictable and I was sure to pass), forego the luxury holiday in the sun this year and get on with the rest of my life. I will update my driving blog as soon as I've made a decision.
Driving Lessons and Work
After I had my first driving lesson, I was determined to have tuition on a weekly basis, so that I could take my test as soon as possible and get my full british driving licence even though there is still no need for me to buy a car. The main reason for this as I mentioned in the introduction to my driving lessons blog was the realisation that knowing how to drive a car is a very valuable life skill to possess. I have been working hard on keeping that promise over the last 3 months, however things have become very busy at work, and I've had to put in extra late hours which has meant I get home late and tired, and have had to use the weekend to rest and regain my strength, so I've had to cancel my last 2 weeks of driving lessons, and I'm not sure things are going to ease off until late summer!
My driving skills were improving, and despite the various problems that have presented themselves as hurdles, I've manged to work on avoiding stalling, learn and do some driving manoeuvres, taking special care to keep the car slow and effectively look around for hazards, deal with agressive road users and keep my emotions and nerves under control. I'm now not sure how this break in the learning process is going to affect my goal. I'm hoping that things do cool down sooner than later, and that I can return to my driving lessons, and will update this blog as soon as there is a change.
My driving skills were improving, and despite the various problems that have presented themselves as hurdles, I've manged to work on avoiding stalling, learn and do some driving manoeuvres, taking special care to keep the car slow and effectively look around for hazards, deal with agressive road users and keep my emotions and nerves under control. I'm now not sure how this break in the learning process is going to affect my goal. I'm hoping that things do cool down sooner than later, and that I can return to my driving lessons, and will update this blog as soon as there is a change.