Categories: uncategorized
Date: 07 December 2007 16:25:03
So, we rewind to the start of my previous entry for the parallel story.
Working on the building site fed me and kept a roof over my head, but wasn't what I wanted to do long term. It dawned on me that I enjoyed driving and I quite fancied working as a Driving Instructor. A friend of mine already in the business introduced me to A, the owner of a small local Driving School who agreed to train me. I realised that the training would take a while, and would cost me money, so I contiinued looking for something else.
R, a friend of mine from the Labour Party was Director of an organisation providing employment training for adults with learning disabilities. He had a vacancy for a full time Training Support Worker and, knowing I was looking around for something else and aware of my intention to train as an ADI, offered me a job on a "short term temporary basis" to fill the gap while he looked for a permanent member of staff. The "short term temporary" bit ended up with me working there for 10 months and was a job I thoroughly enjoyed.
While working there, I started my ADI training. The qualifying process comes in three parts. Part 1 is the theory test, Part 2 is and advanced driving test and Part 3 is the test of Instructional Ability. After passing parts 1 and 2, a temporary "trainee" licence is granted allowing you to work as an instructor while preparing for the final exam. There is no limit to the number of attempts anyone can take at PArt 1, but Parts 2 and 3 are limited to three attempts. If you fail three times at any point, you have to go back to the beginning, but have to wait until two years have passed since passing Part 1 before starting again.
Part 1 I prepared for on my own. A lent me all the books necessary to study for the exam and I passed with 95%. Then I started preparing for Part 2.
Basically, I had to learn to drive all over again. Having been driving for over 20 years, I had accumulated a lot of bad habits that had to be beaten out of me. A pointed out that I was a good driver, but in order to pass the Part 2 test, being a good driver isn't enough. You need to be an excellent driver.
In early 2003 I took my first attempt at Part 2. I was well prepared, and drove really well. Unfortunately, I managed to hit the kerb while reversing around a corner to the right (a manouvre I particularly hate). That was enough to fail. I didn't feel too bad about it though. The rest of the test had gone really well and I realised that had it not been for that one silly mistake, I'd have passed. After that, things started going downhill.
A few days after the test, my car got stolen from outside church. This was a serious blow as it meant I wasn't going to get the amount of driving practice required to pass a test like this. The only practice I got was in A's car about once or twice a week.
My second attempt didn't go at all well. I didn't commit any serious errors, but I was just outside the 6 minor faults allowed. I remained positive though. I knew the areas that needed working on and was confident I could get it sorted.
My third attempt was booked for 3 weeks before the wedding. In hindsight, I can see that this was an incredibly stupid time to be taking a test such as this. My idea was to get the test out of the way, get married and return from honeymoon to start a new job. The stress of wedding plans combined with the fact that I didn't have my own car to get regular practice meant the whole thing was a disaster from the moment I left the test centre car park.
So that was it. I'd had my three goes. I would have to wait nearly two years before I could start again. All my hopes, dreams and plans had been shattered.
I thought things couldn't get much worse. Once again, I was wrong.