Thursday, March 19, 2020

A Day at Germany

Dropped by Germany in between our Journey from France to Switzerland.

It's amazing how we can cross between countries without chopping our passports. We went to this quaint little town near the border. Just a photo log because I don't really remember much except for the clocks and the sweet dessert wine which we bought for our parents.


































Saturday, March 14, 2020

Journey to getting my driving licence

Ever since I was of legal age, I never had any intention to take a driving licence and was happy to just spend the rest of my life in the passenger seat. I always felt it wasn't necessary for me to learn how to drive but late last year, I suddenly felt that it's a useful skill to have especially to run errands. If I knew how to drive, I wouldn't need to depend on other people. And so.... I enrolled myself into Comfortdelgro Driving Centre. I am aware that the roads at Ubi are busier than the schools in the west but this location is the most convenient for me. Of course, I knew my limits and signed up for Auto. Haha.

By the way, I personally think that taking lessons with a school is better compared to getting a private instructor because school learners get more frequent access to the circuit and I think that's very important. I was shocked that some people go for test after just 3 times in the circuit. Definitely not enough for me. However, if you are a fast learner then perhaps the significantly lower fees is an attractive reason to go private. Also, I think the school's step-by-step fixed curriculum worked well for me.

November 2019 Basic Theory Test

I revised a lot for the Basic Theory Test because you can only have maximum 5 wrong answers out of 50 questions. Instead of buying a book, I watched the free e-learning guide provided by the school (which I realize is not my learning style because I get distracted waiting for the slideshow animations and I prefer reading over audio, however, I liked the mock tests and I think repeating those helped me alot). 

I totally missed the first test because I remember the wrong timing. By the time I reached, the session was already over. Alamak. 

But all's good because I made sure to arrive at the right timing the second time and I got 50/50 :) 

December 2019 - January 2020 Practical Lessons

One of the items I hated the most was multiple lane change because of the super busy roads at Ubi. There are many trucks on the road and they are always very fast. 

There was once, I was doing multiple lane change and at the right-most lane, I was already half way into the lane when the car behind suddenly accelerated and I was so kanchiong I didn't know if I should go forward or swerve back to my lane, which would be dangerous. I was so upset with that driver because he did it on purpose. I know it's usually frustrating to be behind a L plate but the road was large and clear, I was not hogging the road. You already saw my L plate, why so ungentlemanly! Of course, I also met some very nice drivers that allowed me to change lanes safely, and I am always thankful for these kind people.

February 2020 Final Theory Test

Before I could book my practical test, I had to first take the Final Theory Test. Many have told me that this is way more difficult than BTT and I totally agree! I was so lost when studying for this because there are alot of questions that are relateable only to manual drivers. I had no idea what's the clutch pedal for, the different gear levels, etc. I was extremely busy in the days leading up to the test and didn't have time to really study in depth. On the final night before the test, I repeated the mock tests over and over again and it's really useful. Scored 48/50 for my FTT. During the test, I was thinking "Jialat liao" cos there are some questions which I had never seen before in the mock tests and some questions which had two similar answers. I was shocked that I managed to pass!

March 2020 Revision Lessons

Took a break for my practical lessons in February and resumed in March. I took a total of 25 lessons, of which 4 of them are back to back revisions from Tuesday - Friday just before my test on Saturday. I was lucky enough to get a Saturday morning slot, the roads are less busy compared to weekdays. I was still making many careless mistakes in the circuit but after alot of practice, I managed to reduce the frequency of these errors towards the last two lessons.

Driving Test

I couldn't sleep at all last night even though I laid in bed early. The last I saw the clock, it was already 4am :( Woke up at 7am and prepared myself. Reached the driving centre, did my warm up with a very nice and calming instructor that guided me slowly. The warm up was smooth and I felt much better. The wait for the tester was abit scary though. 

Everything was smooth at the circuit but the moment I hit the roads, the tester started recording stuff down and I was just praying hard that I won't hit more than 18 demerit points. I would be more than thankful with a just-pass. 

So after the whole thing, we went back and I waited for the tester. He told me some of the mistakes I made, and then finally, he told me he gave me 18 demerit points.... Just passed!!! I was so relieved and happy!! Even though it's a bad score, but at least PASS ON FIRST ATTEMPT!!!!

So yep... This is my journey to getting my driving licence.

Pink car next? Hahaha.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Cny 2020