Driving Lesson

Sometimes things conspire to cause a mental freeze. Picture this.

We lived in a home atop a hill, in the nineties. I was learning to drive. One day our family driver cum mechanic came to pick me up for work as usual  using our manual transmission land cruiser. Knowing that practice makes perfect and that I was attending driving lessons, he offered the driver’s seat and took the co-drivers’ as my assessor/ Instructor for the morning. I happily climbed onto the driver’s seat and smoothly pulled out of the parking. Perfect!

The stretch from home to the highway was a murram road, with several T-junctions and S-curves. My first well executed huddle was a gentle S- drive from the front door parking through the main gate. This led to a T-junctions about forty meters ahead. I took the Ninety degree turn to My left. Again, no problems.

On the second gentle S- drive, I turned the wheel right but as I tried to right the car to stay on course, the steering wheel just flew of its’ socket and I was left holding it in my hands while the vehicle was in motion. My right foot remained on the fuel pedal in my confusion and the vehicle hurtled  towards cluster of trees to our right.

My Instructor/Assessor/Panicked passenger/The driver was shouting;

“Step on the brakes! Step on the brakes!”

But I could not respond. You see, I was suffering from some form of mental lag and was still trying to ‘Steer’ the vehicle, fully expecting it to smoothly navigate the S- bend. Also, without a steady wheel to hold on to, finding the brake pedal without looking down was impossible for me, a learner.

My mind just locked

Fortunately, the driver/Mechanic reached out from his co-driver seat and pressed the brake with his hands. This stopped the vehicle inches away from a ditch that separated us from the cluster of trees. The ground here was a little raised. To put it mildly I was stupefied. Or dazed,and uncomprehending!

When I finally looked up and through the wind screen,horror of horrors, I spotted no more than five feet away from us, my neighbours’ eight year old child. He was headed home laden with a five litre jerry can of water. Probably from the river. If we hadn’t stopped when we did…

That was too much for me, I surrendered the Keys, and took the co-driver seat. It was a long while before I attempted to drive again.

But I learnt an important lesson. Always check the status of your car before driving off. And remember to check the steering wheel as well.

Talk of mental blocks. That was mine.

Above all I learnt our lives and circumstances are simply put,in God’s hands.