Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Driving Test

I am going to be tested on my ability to drive today after which I might get a little card with my photo on it that says I'm allowed to do it whenever I want without anyone shouting at me to stop if I pull out in front of a large fast moving vehicle.

Doing this test feels like it's about more than just whether or not I can fluke a reverse park handle my vehicle with poise and accomplishment. It feels like a test of my adulthood, like a correction to the past, a movement away from denial. I am trying not to be too philosophical about it all. After all the first most important thing is not crashing. But up there is not having an existential crisis in the middle of an intersection. Remember always execute a right hand turn before questioning the nature of reality, or the profound absurdity of existence.

Of course, driving is really a test of my physical prowess, not of my worth as a human being. If I fail I will sit it again. I think there's something in that for all of us, don't you?

(A five legged fly just landed on my finger. I am sure it is an omen. But of what?)

4 comments:

  1. Good Luck Penni.
    There are many differences in life that I accept and understand about others, but to not have the ability to walk out the door and get into a car and drive away is beyond my comprehension. I put access to a vehicle and ability to drive up there with requiring oxygen and water.
    Crikey boy has hiccups again. Squeak Twang Flang. Ugh.

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  2. To me I've always felt the opposite. Living somewhere where I didn't have to rely on a vehicle represents freedom. Being able to walk, bikeride or PT anywhere I needed to go has always felt very liberating. But being shackled with kids and living out in the sticks is obviously a different story - this is the first time a car has signified freedom to me.

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  3. I think it was growing up in Wattle Glen and being so isolated and hours on public transport from anywhere, everyone, and I mean everyone I knew got their licences the day they turned 18.

    Well done Penni.

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  4. Yeah, it's a bit of a Melbourne thing - Martin adn all his mates had theirs early. I moved out to the inner city at just 18, but even Mum and Dad's house was a feasible drunken stagger home from the city (or $5 in a cab).

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