Lines aren't just for "reading between"!

I am totally and utterly in love with my car! Everytime I see it or get into it - basically daily - I still can't believe that I get to drive this car. It's like seeing my first love - still gets me everytime, after all these years. Speechless at the sight of it... It's always the prettiest one in the parking lot, guys always stare at it and no one should even try to get to the next traffic light faster than this car can. But this is basically where the joy of driving stops for me.

My current fellow countrymen  - bless their hearts - don't know the first thing about driving. Seriously. And I get that it's not all their fault - blame the system I guess. I know in the bigger picture I'm now one of them - got the passport to prove it - but on this aspect I cannot associate  with them. They don't know the first thing about parking - to start with (traffic circles are the other mystery, along with changing lanes and backing out of a parking space). They couldn't care less about the white lines marking one parking space from the next. Has no meaning to them. And I'm not talking about the winter when all the lines are invisible as a result of the packed snow. I'm talking summer conditions here. It takes me forever to find a parking spot at the mall because everytime I think I see an open space, I only get there to find that it's unusable because the car next to this presumed "open" space is parked at a 45 degree angle just because its driver doesn't understand the concept of  "between the lines". Now I guess I can do with the extra mile I have to walk from the place I could find at last at the other end of the parking lot, but I have to restrain myself from writing notes to each and every one of these drivers and leave it in their windshield wipers with fake parking "fines"!

Any country who gives learner's permits to 14 year olds and probationary driver's licences at 16 years of age - to drive without an adult - should go back to the drawing board on this one.

To illustrate my point further, I would like to tell you about the time when I went for my drivers test here in Canada. When I moved here, I had to re-do my drivers licence - in writing and practical - although I've had a drivers licence for some years at that stage. Got the "no-claim-bonus" from Outsurance to prove it. I understood this requirement for re-testing since in Canada they drive on the other side of the road (which means I still go to the passenger seat more often than I would like to admit, expecting to find the steering wheel there...) and driving on these winter roads can be trreacherous.

I was so nervous though that day, that when the testing officer asked me to parallel park, I backed up OVER the sidewalk, uttered a few choice words when I realised I blew the test, and drove back to the licensing office knowing I would just have to come back another day to repeat the whole thing. But, hey no, I kid you not: I passed the test and got my licence that very day.

I mean, I knew I could drive based on the years I've had my license in South Africa (who is not an expert after passing K53...) and that it was only nerves that messed with my parking that day, but the guy testing me didn't know that! He thought my standard of driving was "A-ok" according to Canadian standards. That's why I'm so freaked out half the time when I drive around town, knowing that mostly everyone around me got their licences for basically only knowing where the ignition of the car is. Add to that the fact that the majority of people are either talking on their cell phones or texting while they drive!

I must admit that I am not up-to-date with the current requirements for a drivers licence in South Africa, but I always feel proud to know that our licensing standards - although it could be the only thing that is - are better than in Canada. At least in the "olden days" when I got mine...Having overloaded taxis with re-treads all around who consider the emergency lane as being the only lane, most traffic lights being out of order most of the time and being on red alert for potential hijackings as a way of life, just puts one in a different state of mind when behind a steering wheel.

Maybe I should start taking the bus since I'm on the car's horn (tooter - honk-honk) most of the time. It may therefore be possible that my fellow road users aren't staring at my fabulous car after all but rather at me behind the wheel, thinking to themselves: crazy b#*@h!