I don't have a driving license
but I can drive a bit. I know the basics and if it was urgent my parents would probably let me drive down to the village for something. I learnt these super driving skills in an old Ford Escort convertible (shiny blue paint) when I was about fourteen, and my brother was about thirteen.

Where we lived at the time, the house was very old and had about 3 or 4 acres of grounds around it- mostly woodland and lawns, but with a long drive of about 250m winding down to the road outside. Very private and secluded, so when our parents were out it seemed like the best time and place to practice driving. Since I was the oldest I naturally claimed first go and gently pottered around the massive oak tree before down the drive and back up. It all went quite well and I handed it over to my brother. Who hadn't quite got the hang of 'slow and easy' and started racing around the tree about 20miles an hour. Doesn't sound like much but with tight turns and limited space it felt far too fast. This wasn't helped by the family dog bounding out barking into view, my brother swerving to avoid the dog, and careering down the drive, me in the passenger seat shrieking and him in his panic hitting the accelerator not the brake.

Through some lucky oversight the gate to the drive had been left open and we were out on the main road rather than in splinters. It seemed like the only thing to do was to drive on. So we did. Drove until we found a space where we could turn the car round and head back home. I commandeered the wheel, and clearly remember going past the churchyard and noticing the vicar waving to us, then turning back into the drive, and stopping. To this day I have no idea how when I next started the car I had put it into reverse, but when I hit the accelerator I went back into a tree. We hid the damage for three weeks (it was an old car that my parents just kept in the garage) but sooner or later they had to notice the fact that part of the back was missing.

The explanation was awful, because there was no denying the fact that though I hadn't started the race down the drive, I was the one who had crashed the car. I didn't have another driving lesson for another three years
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 12:51, Reply)