Tag Archive | driving
Passing the test in a broken old car
I’d had twenty lessons and the company I worked for had only agreed to pay for twenty lessons and so ready or not, it was time to take my driving test. Summer of 1975, Hilton Lodge, the second most nervous man in the world – yes his name really was Hilton – had been teaching [...]
Satnavs vs Maps
I may need a new satnav. Its been at least a couple of years since I last used mine but on Monday I had to venture all the way down south into Northamptonshire and so took the satnav with me – then plugged it in when I was about ten miles from the address. I [...]
Driving with Joyce
Luckily for our mother, our Auntie Joyce could drive a car, god knows how, but she had allegedly passed her driving test and she had free use of their Mini – we’re talking the 1960s here and so we’re talking the original Mini, the very original Mini, the Mini that had no door linings and [...]
My mothers short driving career
My mother learned to drive sitting on a plastic stackable chair in front of a television screen on what can only be described as an ancient form of amusement arcade video game. Or rather I should say, my mother didn’t learn to drive whilst sitting on a plastic stackable chair in front of a television [...]
What happens on New Years Eve when you cancel public transport
New Years Eve, I wasn’t drinking so I took the car to the pub and spent a pleasant evening with a few friends there and because I was available to drive Jodie booked my Dads Taxi service to take her and a friend into Leeds for a night’s celebration in one of those things called [...]
Flying tyres…
Many years ago… So I’m driving in the Leeds inner ring road, I say “in” because is sunk down below ground level, four lanes of traffic, some tunnels, no central reservation to speak of, very busy. I’m approaching the longest of the tunnels on a slight decline into it at about 60mph with traffic coming [...]
Driving in Madrid (III)
We were heading north out of Madrid on the motorway to Burgos and thence on into the Basque region, an area of Northern Spain which is perhaps the most beautiful and least seen region, mainly because the Basque people are the most miserable, ignorant twats that I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet and the [...]
Driving in Madrid (II)
So we packed the car the following morning and left the old folks Spanish paradise by the sea that is the town of Benidorm and headed off down the motorway to Alicante, me driving, our dad sat dozing in the passenger seat and his flatmate Brian sat in the back with his trusty map of [...]
Don’t drive drunk
OK, the disclaimer comes first. First off, it was a long time ago Second, I was young and feckless Third, erm, everyone did it. Yes thats right, there was a time in this nations history when at 11pm of a Friday and Saturday night every single driver on the road would be driving tanked up [...]
My first motorway
So I recieved an email the other day from a worthy contributor who told a story of a woman found wandering the hard shoulder of the M1 in a state of distress who knew not what she was doing there or what to do next to get off said motorway, the worthy contributors son was [...]
