First Driving Lesson After Long Break

Today I had my first driving lesson after a very long break (over 12 months), and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

My driving instructor picked me up at the agreed location, as I was not home, and he mentioned we will start driving on some quiet roads just to get me warmed up and see how my basic skills were.
I settled down quickly completing my cockpit drill without forgeting anything, got the car prepared and moved off smoothly without jerking the car, and was pretty pleased with that, as I thought I would start off rough.

The road we started off on was a bit narrow with cars parked on both sides, and my driving instructor had to remind me of the lesson about keeping the car in the middle of the road, as I was too close to vehicles on the left. It wasn't busy, so I didn't have any traffic to meet, after dealing with a few junctions turning left and right and emerging, we joined a main high street, where I had to avoid bus lanes, deal with pedestrian crossings, and drive up to the 30MPH speed limit (I actually exceeded it, and my driving instructor had to prompt me to bring it down), I wasn't doing too badly, until we got to traffic lights.

I'm not sure if it was the traffic lights or the dual carriageway, but my instructor said that I became unsettled despite having dealt with both before. Once on the dual carriageway road I calmed down again, it only had a 40MPH speed limit, and we didn't stay on it for long, but continued on local roads, high street and then it was time to do the turn in the road 3 point manuever for the very first time in over 12 months.



My instructor asked me if I wanted to attempt this on my own without any reminders from him, and I said Yes. The attempt was not good, the car went too fast, I didn't make proper use of the POM Routine and hit the kerb!
My driving instructor reminded me of the correct procedure including clutch control and we practised this for a copule of times, before I knew it time was up, and the driving lesson was over. Now I remember why I always booked 2 hour driving lessons with my instructor, I learnt more and spent less time trying to warm up.

I have decided that I'm going to continue, so will let you know how my next session goes which is booked for this weekend Saturday.