Take the Highway
Ossie, a friend of my dad’s taught me to drive. His day job was teaching police drivers so it was pretty interesting. I still have his voice in my head as I bowl along.
‘mind that daft dog’
‘look for the legs’ (under parked cars)
‘whose ball’s that?’ (look out for following child)
‘accelerate out of danger’
‘let the madman pass then you can see where he is’
‘why are the brakelights going on ahead?’
‘I’ll be in the men’s ward at the RVI and I’ll shout over to you on the women’s ward - It’s OK liz, you had right of way’
The best bits though were when he sang the theme from Rawhide at the top of his voice to make sure I could handle distractions. He also took me driving fast because he reckoned there wasn’t much point in learning at 30 mph then passing your test and making straight for the motorway.
I passed my test first time and mam sent me to buy pies. I was driving my dad’s Rover 2000 (lovely big car) and as I left the pie shop realised I didn’t know how to get it in reverse. So I drove along and took the first right turn, then right again. Now if it hadn’t been a cul de sac I could then have got back to the main road with just one more right. So there I was trying to get into reverse gear and edging ever closer to a brick wall. Fortunately one of my audience (I had attracted quite a crowd) took pity on me and showed me how to lift the collar thing then select reverse. I’m sure it was a very sensible safety precaution to stop people from going backwards inadvertently.
That evening I took Tina out on manoeuvres in my mam’s NSU Prinz. The engine was in the back so we kept a sack of spuds in the front to help the steering. Off we went past the Wheatsheaf and on towards New York. As it got dark I would have put the lights on if I knew how. In the end I had to park under a street lamp while Tina got the manual out and read the instructions.
Those cars certainly saw a lot of the North East. Tina and I would drop my parents off at the Golf Club on a Saturday night then pick them up later - 3 hrs with wheels. The first time, I took the wrong turning off a roundabout and ended up Northbound on the A1. We did about 5 miles before we could get turned round. At least we were mobile.
‘mind that daft dog’
‘look for the legs’ (under parked cars)
‘whose ball’s that?’ (look out for following child)
‘accelerate out of danger’
‘let the madman pass then you can see where he is’
‘why are the brakelights going on ahead?’
‘I’ll be in the men’s ward at the RVI and I’ll shout over to you on the women’s ward - It’s OK liz, you had right of way’
The best bits though were when he sang the theme from Rawhide at the top of his voice to make sure I could handle distractions. He also took me driving fast because he reckoned there wasn’t much point in learning at 30 mph then passing your test and making straight for the motorway.
I passed my test first time and mam sent me to buy pies. I was driving my dad’s Rover 2000 (lovely big car) and as I left the pie shop realised I didn’t know how to get it in reverse. So I drove along and took the first right turn, then right again. Now if it hadn’t been a cul de sac I could then have got back to the main road with just one more right. So there I was trying to get into reverse gear and edging ever closer to a brick wall. Fortunately one of my audience (I had attracted quite a crowd) took pity on me and showed me how to lift the collar thing then select reverse. I’m sure it was a very sensible safety precaution to stop people from going backwards inadvertently.
That evening I took Tina out on manoeuvres in my mam’s NSU Prinz. The engine was in the back so we kept a sack of spuds in the front to help the steering. Off we went past the Wheatsheaf and on towards New York. As it got dark I would have put the lights on if I knew how. In the end I had to park under a street lamp while Tina got the manual out and read the instructions.
Those cars certainly saw a lot of the North East. Tina and I would drop my parents off at the Golf Club on a Saturday night then pick them up later - 3 hrs with wheels. The first time, I took the wrong turning off a roundabout and ended up Northbound on the A1. We did about 5 miles before we could get turned round. At least we were mobile.
posted by Anonymous at 10:25 am
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