I had my first driving lesson in the mobile library today. It's hard to express just how nervous I was, let's just say I was terribly relieved that I, the instructor, and the bus all got back into the garage in one piece.
What didn't help was that, being a mere 5' tall, using the handbrake was a major physical effort.
For some reason, the designers of our bus put the handbrake on the far right of the dashboard, really close to the windscreen. In order to take the brake off, I have to lean diagonally to the right (as far as I can), pull the lever up (with my right hand - I'm left-handed), and push it forward (almost further than I can go). It feels about as natural to me as dancing in stilletos, on a cobbled street.
On the plus side, the instructor was great - patient, calm and convincingly assured me that I was doing fine and that he was not at all scared. Actually, he probably wasn't that scared - he kept telling me to go faster (I was struggling to reach 50 km/hr).
So, all in all, I felt kind of good about the whole thing. I'd been worried about it for ages, and now I think I'm going to be okay.
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