By Going to Alley's for the weekend; and will no doubt end up getting drunk with Mojo and Alley's wife, Babs, while I'm there. This year will be the first time that I've driven it; previous couple of times I've used the train, which were both ok, especially the last time when I took my laptop with me and watched a couple of DVDs on the way down. and the very first time I used the coach, which seemed an interminable amount of time. Really looking forward to the adventure, for want of a better word, of driving the 400+ miles from here to there; but, at the same time, I'm slightly anxious, because it's 400+ miles of motorway driving. And if there's one thing I've noticed since starting to drive it's that you cannot switch off for even a second; there's too many other idiotic drivers around ready to try and kill you with their stupidity. I'm not the best driver in the world, far from it, but some people take it to extremes.
For the few people reading that know about the Donnington trip and Newcastle incident, yeah I know they were my fault. For those not in the know, on the trip down to Donnington I narrowly avoided plowing in to the back of Colin's Focus on the A65 I think, although to be fair it was just on the other side of a sharp hill.
The second incident of the trip was on the M1, we'd just started pulling away from some standing traffic and I had got distracted by some eye candy in the lane next to me when I heard a shout of "Bowch, brake!" from the back seat. Immediately braking, I noticed the Focus in front, not Colin's, braking hard and narrowly avoided plowing in to the back of it. What is it about the Focus?
The Newcastle incident was on the A69, about ¾ of the way there. There was a sign warning about a roundabout ahead and just as I was reaching the crest of the hill I noticed chevron signs immediately in front warning of a sharp left bend, or so I thought. Anyway, started to brake for the corner only to suddenly realise it was the roundabout proper, and ended up going straight on to it at 40+mph. Luckily, there was nothing coming around it at the same time, otherwise, I'd probably be blogging this from the hospital.
There was also a near-miss in Carlisle city centre on the way home. I've travelled down Botchergate a good 100 times or so at least and never realised that there's no right turn halfway down, so ended up having to turn at the bottom of Botchergate. Never having driven down the road before, I missed the correct entry for the junction and turned too soon; heading in to the outcoming lanes. Luckily there was only 1 car in the near lane and a taxi pulling up in the far lane; which left me enough room to go through the centre of them, which I did, without missing a beat. No cause for alarm or anything; near miss avoided. Apart from the fact that my passenger bricked one.
I think I understand why quite a few new drivers have accidents within the first year of passing their test. It's a lack of familiarity with roads and routes from a driving perspective rather than the perspective of a passenger, be it car or bus, or even as a pedestrian. 3 of the 4 incidents above were probably down, in no small part, to a lack of familiarity on my part with the roads and routes we had taken. The other one is solely my fault; I wasn't paying attention...
Anyway, gotta dash, need to get some breakfast and walk the dog before I set off. I will post when I get back.
