Professional Racing Driver, Coming Right Up

After two years of avoiding the Traffic Department at all costs I finally decided it was time to do my drivers license because apparently it's quite important; although this is just a rumour. So I plucked up all my courage and made my way to the Traffic Department. Now, for those of you have ventured into the Stellenbosch Home Affairs buildings, you will know that it's quite a daunting task.

So when looking for the Traffic Department, I was looking for some old, ram-shackled building next to the engineering that resembled something close to the Carolina Traffic Department. Boy oh boy, was I wrong. It was clean and tidy and the buildings were well looked after. This was a good omen. So I ventured inside, but when I didn't see a queue heading out of the front door, I realized I must be in the wrong place.

I went to the enquiries desk and timidly asked if this was in fact the Traffic Department. Turns out it was. Booking my drivers test took a whole fifteen minutes. Can you believe it? And my test wasn't set to be in six months time, no, I was writing in just under a month. Suddenly I hit panic mode!

My driving skills leave a lot to be desired and any one of my family members could tell you some story about how I nearly got them killed. So I decided a driving instructor was going to be a good idea. Never have I thought it a good idea to pay R170 to drive around in some miniature Hyundai a good idea, but hey, maybe I'm going soft.

I booked my lessons and was due to start driving the next day. To say I was nervous would be a serious understatement, try 'completely terrified'. I quietly walked up to the car and the instructor got out and introduced herself. I’m pretty sure the relief was evident all over my face as I realized that she wasn’t some scary tall woman with her hair pulled back into a tight bun but rather a young woman with a friendly smile.

Well, I’m yet to kill anyone but it must be noted that the point of looking both ways before crossing a pedestrian crossing is to ensure that there are no pedestrians (for some reason I thought I could find a pedestrian and then just carry on going anyway). Also stalling right in front of that really good looking guy and then going bright red, apparently it’s not attractive.

At least I have two weeks to learn that pedestrians have right of way on a pedestrian crossing (apparently not common sense) and to learn that regardless of how good looking the pedestrians are, if I stall, I fail.