Tuesday, December 05, 2006
clutch me if you can
Today i went for my first practical driving lesson.
At first, i was so excited about my virgin experience at the wheel. The thought of sitting at the driver's seat slowly carassing the wheel, grasping it firmly but gently, sent shivers of pure pleasure down my spine.
Yea right.
Sliding into the actual driver's seat, it was a weird perspective indeed. I've been sitting on the passenger side for 20 years, it took me some getting used to, sitting on the other side of the windscreen.
And boy, was i trembling. I was so excited, i nearly fell asleep while at the wheel.
All the teacher allowed me to do today was to practice how to use the clutch. Forward, backward and forward again i went, the car rocked gently like a baby's pram, lulling me to sleep. It didn't help that i did sentry till 3am the previous night.
My teacher is this 50-60ish old man called Victor Ho. At first, on the phone, i kept calling him Victor, but then realised that it sounded too friendly, bordering on rude, so i changed to calling him Mr Ho when we met.
As most old people, he does things slowly and surely, and tends to repeat himself a few times, in case i don't get it. He speaks in Mandarin most of the time, even though i've heard him speak English, and that can be a problem because usually i take about 1-2 seconds to differentiate my left from my right and if he was to give me directions in Mandarin, i'll have to take even longer.
"Juan you! Juan you! Bu shi juan zhuo! Ni shi bu shi ben?"
And yes, even though i was treembling with excitement as i slid into the driver's seat, i was soon trembling with exertion. My left leg's not used to constantly pressing on the clutch. And when i mean constant, i mean every freaking minute!
There was a point when i considered using my right foot to tahan the clutch while my left one took a rest, but i decided i wasn't suicidal.
Did i learn anything from today's lesson? I hope so. I learnt that on a hot day in a mostly deserted private estate, clutching forward and backwards on tortise speed can really send my eyelids crashing down over my eyes.
I also learnt that when the first gear is engaged, you don't have to depress the accelerator for the car to move. Just release the clutch and eureka, it moves! Just don't release it too much at a time because the car would lurch forward.
One more thing. The brake pedal at the driver's seat is so bloody irritating because i could feel him braking for me almost constantly. Hello! Let me learn thank you. I didn't even touch the gear stick!
BAH!
Hope my next lesson would be more fruitful.
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