While I was living in Long Eaton, a suburb of Nottingham, I decided it was time to try to pass the British driving test. I only had a year's grace before I had to pass it to continue to drive in England. I can honestly say though that I was not looking forward to it at all.

Passing the test took a couple of months as there is a lot more to the test now then there was when I took it in London.

There are two parts to the test, the Theory Test and the Practical Test. Within these they have two parts each as well. It is necessary to pass the Theory Test before going for the Practical Test. The first part had 35 questions regarding the highway code. The second part was the Hazard Perception test. I think that experienced drivers would have a very interesting time with this.

Luckily due to modern technology, I was able to study using a CD-ROM and quizzed myself until I knew just about all of the answers (on the test I did indeed get 35 out of 35 questions right). I was also able to test myself on the hazard perceptions before going to the exam and I think this helped considerably. I passed the Theory test first time and I was glad.

Next up was the Practical Test. I actually had to take this twice before I passed. The first one was in Derby. In the strange way that the world works, a new maneouver was introduced on the Monday (4th October 2004) and I took the test on the Friday. Due to reasons we won't go into, I had not actually completed the maneouver to the righthand side before going for my test. It appeared that this was not something that I would be tested on.

Well, what a surprise, the examiner asked me to reverse into a bay (shopping center white lines parking) to the right. As I had never done it before I focused all of my attention on completing the maneouver. To my credit, even if I do say so myself, I completed the maneouver successfully. I then went on to complete the driving test. Unfortunately, at the end of the test I was informed that I had failed because I didn't look over my shoulder into the blind spot (I passed on everything else). The car park for the test was empty but this was supposed to simulate the shopping center and I guess children or adults could have been walking by.

I took the second test in Buxton. I had never actually heard of the place before, but due to time constraints, my year was running out and I had one week left. Buxton is a small town that I now know produces 'Buxton Hills' spring water. Yes there were lots of hills. I visited the place for the first time on the Sunday and then I went back the next day and took the test.

I took the test in the pouring rain. The examiner asked me to do an emergency stop and I did. The wheels were hydroplaning and skidding across the road but we came to a safe stop. I then completed a few maneouvers, but not the bay parking, and was asked to pull over to the side of the road about 9 times (or so it seemed). Anyway, I guess the gods were looking favourably on me that day because I passed.

From now on, if I am asked what water I would like to drink, I shall be asking for Buxton Hills water!