davidn

Whitney has passed her driving test on the first attempt!

We were signed in to the test centre by a tester that Whitney thought seemed nice and we were hoping that he would be the one testing her - unfortunately, while we were waiting in the car queued up at the "Road test parking" sign, he came out of the building and got into the car in front of us. We watched him drive off with the woman he was testing and turn to the right around the corner in front of us. About two minutes later, the same examiner suddenly emerged over the bank of grass to our right and got into our car instead with a brief "Well, don't do what SHE did!" This unfortunate woman had managed to conclude her test within the first few seconds - I had a terrible image that on the other side of the bank was a burning wreck from which he had calmly extracted himself, turning only to throw a "FAILED" form on to the charred debris.

So her own test began and it went much better. In Massachusetts you have to have your sponsor (a driving instructor or other licensed driver) sit in the back of your vehicle as you take the test - consequently I have now sat through three driving tests in my life, and this shouldn't happen to anyone. I spent the time mostly just trying to stay detached and trying to remember to breathe, while he took her around a simple driving route, found a rare example of a legally parked car to do manoeuvres around (which she executed flawlessly), and passed her with absolutely no hesitation.

Now I get to panic about preparing for Furfright in two days!