80. Driving lesson (4)

The day of the driving test is approaching and I must not feel nervous. My daughter is not. She laughs it all off. I am a mother and torn in between a) being Tiger Mum and getting her to face the harsh reality of our world b) being a hippy mum and telling her about the power of positive thinking.

'Don't worry mum! I'll wing it.' 

And she laughs, and goes on telling me about how today she tried to take a corner and ended up on the pavement and stalled. And the instructor was screaming 'Get down! Get down! Get down from the *** pavement!' (This instructor seems to swear a lot but then again I might too if I were sitting in that car.)

'I could not drive off the pavement! The car had stalled! I was trying to get it started again. Honestly she was hysterical! She needs to calm down!'

'Maybe you should take it a bit more, you know, ... adopt a more technical approach ... more methodical maybe.'

She rises her left eyebrow. She does that very well and every time she does it I think she should have gone to drama school ... I do not know why, it does nor help us having a constructive discussion.

'You know it is not like driving bumper cars!' I say, a little annoyed now. 

And then I remember. And I laugh at the memory and I start panicking at the idea of her going for this driving test. You see, this story is part of our family folklore and every time it is, for one reason or another brought up into the conversation it never fails to have everyone in stitches (the statues one is an other one). But the whole story does not make me laugh right now, it send me into a panic. My daughter will never be able to wing it. 

Let me tell you ...