Well it’s taken three years but I can officially announce that I have now passed my practical driving exam and have been menacing the roads with my little Cara, legally without L plates, ever since.

It’s crazy to state that driving a manual car isn’t actually very difficult, but then why does it tear our nerves to shreds when we have to sit behind a wheel and be assessed by an examiner with a clipboard? I hate being watched and I found this process so terrifying that I was usually shaking before I got into the car and made mistakes before I’d even started the engine.

After all this practice, all those hours I’d paid for, having to retake my theory exam because it had expired, booking intensive driving courses to boost my confidence, finding the money, the time and the location for another driving test and buying my first car (green Trudy) to practice in everywhere… I am now happy, calmly and confidently driving my second car, much more confidently than I have ever driven with someone else sitting next to me commenting.

Already I am feeling the benefits of driving. Where I am studying my social work degree, although it’s small and with lots of support, it is quite rural in places and takes ages to walk anywhere. How lovely it is to travel somewhere and arrive not soaking wet from the mist and rain but warm and dry, with warm and dry feet from not having to trudge through fields to get to lectures. How beautiful it is to cut down a 45 minute walk to a ten minute drive.

Driving will make my work more doable as I need to travel up and down the county (and beyond) to attend and chair meetings, perform home visits and check on the welfare of children. I will be able to transport clients and, on a personal level, drive home at weekends to see my family who I miss so much during the week.

I am really, clearly, quite happy right now!

(If you are currently learning to drive, don’t give up! And book your test for first thing in the morning so there’s less time to stress about it!)