I’ve mentioned her in one or two other posts over the last couple of years, but I used to have a pupil who was not a natural driver by any stretch of the imagination. Even after close to 100 hours she could not control the clutch, and anything other than a detailed talk through by me (and not always then) was likely to lead to her braking without de-clutching – especially if the lights ahead of us changed suddenly. This problem carried across into all aspects of her driving – it took months of hard work to get her to be able to do a turn in the road, and the other manoeuvres were even worse.
I’d tried to persuade her to learn in an automatic many times, but she had bought a car and was insistent that she wanted to learn in a manual. I felt terrible that it was taking her so long, and I told her so.
But one day early last year (in fact, it may even have been late 2010) she let it slip that she’d sold her car, so I started off at her again about auto lessons. This time I enlisted her son to help convince her, and she gave in. I organised an automatic instructor for her.
I remember her first auto lesson – she phoned me and said “It’s great. At traffic lights I just have to brake and then let go to move off again”. I replied, “Yes, I know. That’s what you used to do in the manual, which was why we had all the problems!”
She’s always stayed in touch – either to tell me that she’d failed her test, or to have a moan about her instructor. In return, I’ve always geed her up to keep at it; not to give up.
The other day I got a call and she could barely talk (and I ought to point out that her texts sent this week are almost as incoherent). She’d passed on her 7th attempt.
What touched me was that she was so grateful to me, even though our last lesson was in January 2011! It gives you a warm glow inside. I just wish some of the younger ones who you really do feel like you’ve gone out on a limb for were just half as grateful.