Stupid stalled car

I woke up this morning feeling pretty excited. A look at my watch showed I'm only 3hrs away from my driving practical test. Haha, I could even feel butterflies in my stomach. Drank a cup of beverage n I'm off to the driving centre. It was a nice morning with cool breeze n clear sky.

The driving centre was empty when I went in. By now, the sky has started to brighten up. I headed straight for the testee warm-up room to register myself. I was the 1^st one of my batch to arrive. There was this board in the room showing all the common mistakes often committed by testees n the important road signs in the driving circuit. The ten test routes were also shown.

I waited patiently for my instructor to come get me for my warm-up drive. He came after a short 10min wait n brought me to my car. Thank god I didn't get the screwed up number 152 car that I drove yesterday. I was being assigned with number 183, a car that's barely weeks old. Very carefully, I brought the car outta parking lot n went into the driving circuit slowly. First, driving off steep slope. Second, parallel parking. Third, directional change. Forth, vertical parking. Fifth, S-Course. Sixth, crank-course. Lastly, I went out to try out one of the test routes.

Everything went well n I returned with better confidence. Then, my instructor led me to the traffic police test room to wait for my tester. In the room, lots were being drawn to determine which of the 10 test routes u gonna be tested on. My name was called very late on. I don't know I'm lucky or what, but I've gotten the only Muslim tester. I've heard my friends say something about Muslim testers, but I had forgotten about it. To my horror, my test route was Route 6, one of the tougher ones. Shit..

5 minutes later, my tester came. I smiled n greeted him, n then led him to my 183 Vios. He seemed nice, joking with the road guard in the circuit. And finally, my test started after adjusting the mirrors of the car. Slope, parallel parking etc etc. I went through everything unscath. My last hurdle, the tough test route. Out I went of the circuit. Surprisingly, my tester didn't stick to the test route n simply asked me to listen to his instruction on the directions. The road condition was kind to me, except for the bus-lane hours, when I had to cut in 2 lanes when I filter left turn. The mat at the bottom of my seat is giving me trouble, often interfering with my steping of the pedals, especially the clutch. As a result, I stalled my car twice while moving off. Then came to this traffic junction. It was red light, a "L" Plate driver was in front of me driving a black Nissan Sunny. When the light turned green, the faggot stalled his/her car n took a million yrs to restart n move off. I was so pissed waiting n the other drivers horning behind me, I kept my eyes on the black car, neglecting the colour on traffic light.

I ended up moving off on amber light n was duly penalized for the mistake. Damn, I was so afraid that would fail me immediately cos I remembered the demerit point is pretty high for this mistake. The drive on the public road was short n smooth. Went back to the driving centre soon after n followed my tester into the traffic police tester room. I took a seat at a table n he sat facing me. A test checklist was drawn out of his file n he made a few ticks. Tick, Tick ,Tick. Holy shit, the number of ticks seemed a lot to me. The more ticks I have, the more likely I'll fail. Then, he flipped the checklist n showed me my result. 16 demerit points, I was damn relieved, cos I PASSED~!! The maximum of demerit points allowed is 18. Imagine how close that was. Of the 16 points, 8 were from the offence of moving off on amber light. Fuck that stupid stalled car in front of me juz now I say. If not for him/her, I would only have 8 demerit points.

Phew~ I passed, finally. From my 1^st lesson on 8^th November last year to today, it has been 3 months. I think I'm damn lucky to have passed on my first try. Guess my prayers have been answered. After the test, I had to watch a 8minute safety driving video, showing all the people who had accidents due to reckless driving n how their lives were destroyed. I know I know, I will be a safe driver. I'm still a greenhorn on the road. There's surely more to learn.

Went to apply for my Qualified Driving License after the video ended. It costs another 50 bucks n I was being issued a temporary license. "U can drive now, juz bring along this temporary license n your ID card with u when u drive" said the receptionist. Woohoo!!! I can drive! Haha.. CoooooL..... Dad is away on an oversea job assignment in Russia now; I have the car all to myself!! Heehee.

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Total cost of my license:-

Enrolment into driving school S$ 152.25

Basic & Final Driving Theory Tests S$ 12.00

Provisional Driving License S$ 25.00

20 Driving Lessons S$1184.40

Pre-Test Warm-Up Drive S$ 134.40

Traffic Police Practical Test S$ 20.00

Qualified Driving License S$ 50.00

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Nett Total: S$1578.05

One thing for sure, getting a license is definitely not cheap. I'm grateful I don't have to go through the expensive test again. It has sucked up more than 2 months of my pay in getting a license.