Well I was told to meet at the school this morning and I was expecting to do a 5 day course (Mon- Fri) and the test on Fri afternoon or the following Mon with the driving shared with two of us doing the course.
When I got there this morning I was told that the other learner driver wasn’t starting until tomorrow and that my test is on this Fri at 8.30am (gulp). When I pointed out that I had paid for a 5 day course and that this was only 4 days, they told me they were going to make up the extra hours by letting me do a double day on my own today. Anyway as you can imagine I’m fairly knackered after a double dose of driving but not as much as I thought I would be. It went pretty well today,screwing up the gears for the first couple of hours and hitting the odd kerb or two, (three actually but who’s counting). Did the reversing practice in the middle of the day and it went very well, I was told if I do it like that on the day i’ll get a pass no prob. The instructor gave me some real good tips for reversing and lining up the truck. In the afternoon, which was effectivly the second day we had been driving through single lane country roads and small towns with some tight turns when the instructor told me that I may not have realised it but I had not hit any kerbs in over two hours! He seems to think I will be ready in time for the test on Fri and barring any lapses in concentration or stupid ■■■■ ups, (Both of which I can do), I should be O.K. Anyway,it’s an early start tomorrow so I’m off to bed to read my “show me, tell me” sheet and I’ll continue this tomorrow night. keep wishing me good luck and I’ll do the same for Jen and RR and any others going through it this week.
All the best Rich
richvanho:
Well I was told to meet at the school this morning and I was expecting to do a 5 day course (Mon- Fri) and the test on Fri afternoon or the following Mon with the driving shared with two of us doing the course.When I got there this morning I was told that the other learner driver wasn’t starting until tomorrow and that my test is on this Fri at 8.30am (gulp). When I pointed out that I had paid for a 5 day course and that this was only 4 days, they told me they were going to make up the extra hours by letting me do a double day on my own today.
Anyway as you can imagine I’m fairly knackered after a double dose of driving but not as much as I thought I would be.
It went pretty well today,screwing up the gears for the first couple of hours and hitting the odd kerb or two, (three actually but who’s counting).
Did the reversing practice in the middle of the day and it went very well, I was told if I do it like that on the day i’ll get a pass no prob.
The instructor gave me some real good tips for reversing and lining up the truck. In the afternoon, which was effectivly the second day we had been driving through single lane country roads and small towns with some tight turns when the instructor told me that I may not have realised it but I had not hit any kerbs in over two hours!
He seems to think I will be ready in time for the test on Fri and barring any lapses in concentration or stupid ■■■■ ups, (Both of which I can do), I should be O.K.
Anyway,it’s an early start tomorrow so I’m off to bed to read my “show me, tell me” sheet and I’ll continue this tomorrow night. keep wishing me good luck and I’ll do the same for Jen and RR and any others going through it this week.
All the best Rich
You did well to do all day 1 to 1 - most brains are fried by early afternoon !!
Nice read mate goodluck to you too, i am also knackered. !
All the best with that then Rich, let us know how it all goes…
Good luck 
Sounds good so far, all the best on friday 
good luck with lessons/test, dont forget to stay calm 
Glad it going well for you your test is same time as mine so good luck , have you done reversing yet my first attempts have been a nightmare so I hope you have a better time than me
All the best mate by hitting them kerbs you learn from your mistake so won’t happen on test
Take care
Jen x
Jennie:
Glad it going well for you your test is same time as mine so good luck , have you done reversing yet my first attempts have been a nightmare so I hope you have a better time than me
All the best mate by hitting them kerbs you learn from your mistake so won’t happen on testTake care
Jen x
If I can keep the cold sweats at bay on Fri morning I’ll send you some positive thoughts, good luck and don’t forget all the logs we have both read on here where people can’t get some thing and then it all clicks into place. that’s what I keep telling myself about the kerbs.I hit 3 at least today so I must be learning loads. Stay tuned for day 2 which is following this post directly. Rich
DAY 2 An early start today, 7.30 at the yard and I was joined by the other trainee driver. What a relief to find I like him. I’m sure that most of us doing the 2 drivers courses worry about who you are going to get partnered with, at least you can do an assessment drive to check out the instructor. I like the 2 driver method as you can learn from the other drivers mistakes and during your hour off you can review your own mistakes and plan how to avoid them when it’s your turn back up.My sympathy goes to Jennie and RR as reversing on the C+E course sounds like a nightmare. The other driver and I both seem to be doing pretty well at the reversing in the rigid, and today I have got the gears sorted out; (it’s a slap over gear box) so I hope that tomorrow I can forget the gears and focus more on how to solve my kerb problem, see the previous post above, yesterday I was not starting into the corners wide enough, and today I fixed that but am still cutting back in too early and sometimes catch the kerb. We started covering the test routes today but also were taken through some ridiculous tight villages which was one of the places that I clipped a kerb.these tight roads scared the hell out of me but when we asked if we would have to do them on the test our instructor told us that we would not get anything this bad on the test but if we could deal with it we had nothing to worry about on the day!!! During the morning the other driver said to tell him if he was in the wrong gear. I told him “I don’t like your shoes”
That’s all from me for today; tune in again tomorrow if you want Rich
Mystic Harry says…
You will pass with 5 minor faults.
Those who can remember the days when I regularly did driving test predictions will remember that I never once got one wrong. Not even by so much as one minor fault.
Thanks mystic, that’ll do me. Rich
DAY THREE
Marks out of ten for a happy driver…10
Number of kerbs hit today…0
Today was the day that you all talk about when it all “just clicked” for me. At least I hope it was and not just one of those purple days that you also talk about. I suppose I won’t know until I try to do it all again tomorrow.
I’m going to send in the entries for day 3 in installments as for the last two days I have written great long entries and then somehow lost them by pushing the wrong button before I could Submit them and had to write it all out again
DAY THREE (cont.)
richvanho:
All the best mate by hitting them kerbs you learn from your mistake so won’t happen on test
Jennie was right but I realised that it’s no good just making the mistakes, you also have to think about them and work out how you are going to fix them too. I worked through my mistakes by writing this log so take note all you people doing courses and tests. Not only do we want to read them but they can be a BIG HELP to you while you are doing the course as well as helping others about to. I know that reading other peoples before this week has helped me in many ways.
Glad it coming together for u that’s a pass for the end of the week I can feel it
Best of luck
Jen x
DAY THREE (Cont.)
had a really good day, no serious or majors all day and the reversing which I thought I had went even better. The other guy driving with me had a really good day too so it was a happy truck when we pulled up for the night. His name is Will and he has done one day less than me and is going back home tonight to check out this web site and sign up, so watch out for him and give him a big hello he’s a nice guy.
I’m off to bed now.
If today was just “purple” then tomorrow I’ll be bruised
If today was “clicking” on Friday I’ll be jivin’
Rich
Well, I’m happy to report that it all went very well again today even though I thought I had a better day yesterday the instructor told me I was better today. Also just to stop me getting too cocky or confident I messed up the reversing today and I’ve been on top of that all week!!! It wasn’t anything too serious, nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a shunt but it’ll help to keep me on edge for the test tomorrow which is at 8.30am. Anyone sending best wishes out to Jennie in the morning, send some to me too.
It’s not going to be a long post tonight as I’m up extra early tomorrow. After my test I am staying out with the other trainee who’s test is at 2pm. good luck to him too.
One way or the other I’ll let you know how it went tomorrow
Rich
Good luck for tomorrow.
Hi Rich,
I’ve got the feeling that it’s all coming together for you.
It’s perfectly normal to have a day when you hit kerbs, but get the reversing done OK, then you’ll find the day following avoids kerbs whilst cocking up on the reverse. I’ve seen that so many times!!
Both you and Jennie are looking like ‘almost’ finished products, so now all you need is that little bit of luck.
We’re all rootin’ for ya, so go for it mate!!
Good luck. Seems like you have this one sussed.