Driving Licence, Driving Lessons

I can hardly believe it myself-- I actually lodged my application to DVLA for my first provisional driving licence today! O still being on holiday (the university doesn't open again till tomorrow), we all went to town (on foot) this sunny but chilly afternoon to go to the Post Office, the local DVLA office and the British School of Motoring(BSM).

At the Post Office on High Town Street, the subpostmaster was quizzical when I asked for a special delivery stamp for my self-addressed envelope (which contains my passport and UK visa). He explains that there is no such thing but there is a prepaid special delivery BAG. But he was asking for the sender's address, which I didn't know yet, as we were still about to go to the local DVLA office. So we just went to DVLA sans the special delivery bag and I got into the queue with number 273. When I had my turn, the nice lady there explained what I really needed to get from the Post Office, so that my passport could be returned via secure service. And she said I didn't need to queue again when I got back with from the Post Office, how really nice of her! Anyway, O decided that we didn't all need to walk back to the Arndale Centre (where the Post Office was), since it would tire B out too much. He very kindly volunteered to buy the prepaid special delivery bag for me, pushing sleeping E on his pushchair to lull him to sleep even more! So B and I waited for O and E in DVLA. Ambait talaga ng asawa ko, hay... :)

So when O came back, the nice DVLA lady stamped my application, gave me a receipt for my passport, cheque and special delivery bag, and said to wait up to 3 weeks for the licence and my passport to come back.

After applying for my provisional licence (or as it's called in the Philippines, a "student permit"), we all trooped to the BSM Luton branch to have a look at the simulator they were recommending to first-time learners. It was so cool, a real machine you can sit in, with three display panels (front, left and right views), a stick shift, handbrake, ignition key, speedometers and other stuff you really have in a car. It even has headphones so you can HEAR road sounds on the simulator! My trepidation about driving lessons quickly turned to a rush of heady excitement, as the machine brought back teenage memories of hours spent on a similar (but less high-tech) machine in Paco Amusement Park in SM City back home!

So I signed up for 6 hours on the simulator (they had a promo on the 6-hour package) and booked my first 10 hours on the road with my driving instructor, beginning mid-May. Since I can’t do on-the-road lessons without my provisional licence, I can use the 3-week wait having simulator lessons first, which is perfectly fine with me. I successfully requested for a female driving instructor and for weekend lessons, as well. I was very lucky to get weekend slots with a lady driving instructor, both of which are, of course, very popular. I don’t know how it is in other countries or with other driving institutes here in the UK, but with BSM, the instructor picks you up at home for lessons! So you get to actually drive around the area where you actually need to travel everyday! How come they don’t do that in the Philippines? I used to have to commute from Novaliches to Santo Domingo each week for my driving lessons at Socialites! Sheesh.

Then O asked the BSM receptionist how many hours their students normally need to pass the driving test, and she said, “Well, the DVLA’s rule of thumb is two hours for every year of your life…” I thought, What?!!!! I’m gonna spend 68 hours on driving lessons at close to 30 pounds an hour?!!! No way, Gokongwei!!!! But she must’ve seen the look of stupefied horror on both our faces, because she then quickly added, “But we’re less conservative than that, obviously… Around 14 hours AT LEAST, but it really depends on the learner. If the learner was a 17-year-old guy trying to impress his instructor, I’d guess it would be pretty fast, but, well, let’s see how your wife does…”

As my dad used to say, “Palakasan lang yan ng loob.”

Abangan ang susunod na kabanata ;)