Day 2
Got to the training centre at 11 am as he was doing a re-test this morning.
Did the usual daily checks, everything was fine. Grant my instructor turned the wagon round before i jumped in, so we could get going a bit more smoothly.
Drove from the old Cannock No5 Pit , down to the A460 , and headed towards Rugeley, then through to Stafford via the A51 turning off at Sandon up towards the old RAF base. Went tootling along down along the outskirts of Stafford , heading towards Eccleshall. We then turned off to Seighford at Great Bridge. We were headed for the old airfield there to start on the reversing and stopping exercises.
A couple of very tight and narrow roads on the way to the airfield, managed to get round them with no problems. When we got to the bit of the old runway we were going to use there were already 2 other Class 1 Trainee’s there, but luckily there were 3 reversing ‘bays’ setup so we didnt have to wait 
Grant explained to me how the reverse should go, jumped out the cab and proceeded to watch me attempt my first reverse. At this point i had a brain ■■■■ and forgot which side of the cone i had to go and went around the wrong way, still managing to get it into the ‘bay’ 
. Grant came over and said ‘Well done, you failed that though. although the examiner would probably have given you a clap for doing that’
So the next 8 or so attempts i get spot on, not a problem at all, consistantly getting the back into that magic little yellow box. This is where i start getting a bit too confident and set the next reverse up a lot tighter to the yellow line, Start the reverse and flatten the cone 
. To say i got a bit of earache was an understatement lol. but that quickly brought me back down to earth and i was focused on what i was being taught to do and not seeing how close i can get the truck parked to the cones.
Now onto the Stopping exercise.
Stopped still at 1st set of cones, Grant says to me ‘Now when we move off thrash the balls off it till we hit 20 mph. you have to get to 20 before the next set of cones. then when you hit the cones you have to stop in less than the length of the vehicle’.
So first attempt, upto 20 , reach the cones, and literally stand on the brakes. managed to do it in 1/2 the length of the truck 
. 2nd attempt had the same outcome. so we moved off and headed back to cannock via rugeley .
Back in cannock , we did some hill starts and blind junctions etc. all go well.
Reach the yard when the day has finished, and Grant says ‘Your driving is good, Just need to bring all the bits together now and theres no reason why you wont be good enough to take your test on Monday teh way were going’.
I know which bits i need to focus on, Gears (getting to grips with the rangechanger), Not driving like im in a 7.5tonner.
Came home with a smile on my face. Cant complain , tired as ■■■■ now though. didnt realise how tiring it is being taught to drive a truck.
were off into stoke tommorow …