Boom Boom, yeah… I passed.

So, have you guessed what this post is about yet? As you may have gleaned, I did indeed pass my driving test. WOOOO HOOOOOOO! Was a bag of nerves all day, but the moment I got in the car, I became strangely calm. I managed to pass my driving test despite old ladies, couple of school kids and a lone dog conspiring to step out in front of my car at the most inopportune moments during the test itself. Thank God, I did it!

Why does passing this test feel so important to me? Probably because I started driving in India and had picked up a lot of bad habits as per the European standards. Well, now I have managed to eliminate those and adapt myself to the European standards.

I had a bit of freak out about the whole thing this morning as I was convinced that I would fail again by only one bad mark! But thankfully, that wasn't the case. I did manage to rack up five mistakes but they were all in Grade 2 (minor ones), and nothing too serious, more down to nerves than anything. I did have a bit of a brain melt with the questions at the start, was somewhat slow and took a moment to figure out where the back window demister switch was, though I was pointing straight at it.

I believe it was not just my motoring skills that enabled me to acquire a European licence. I couldn’t have done it without God’s grace. Now I need to drive without acquiring penalty points. A huge thanks to Anju my wife who kept encouraging me and my instructor Stephen Norton of Alert Motoring School without whose patient training and instruction, I would have failed.

Now I can drive on the motorways, hire a car in foreign parts and generally cause mayhem on the road.... :)

I have some tips for those who are about to take a test:

1. Don't rush it. Get as much practice as you can and only apply for your test when you feel confident that you are safe. If you're worried about the theory test, ask friends and family to test you to familiarise yourself with the questions and have a go at the probable test questions on rules of the road, and go through the road signs a couple of times.
2. Book the first available driving test of the day (Unless you indicate that you are available to take a cancelled slot). If you take your test early in the morning you will have less time to worry about it.
3. Don’t tell your friends the test date. If everyone knows you are going for the test, you create the additional stress of trying to live up to your friends expectations. It's OK to let your parents know, I am sure they will give you all the support you need.
4. Don’t listen to ‘horror stories’. There are many stories about failed tests. Some may even be true. Just concentrate on your performance.
5. Get the timing right. Take the test at the right time. Try to book the test so it does not coincide with other stressful events (just prior to school exams or in the middle of wedding preparations etc).
6. Go to the right test centre. No good going to a test centre were your friends have all failed. This will only lose you confidence. Go to the centre were they all pass! (Kidding..)
7. In your last two lessons, ask your instructor to concentrate on the manoeuvres you find most difficult.
8. Do a practice run or a ‘Mock Test’. The instructor should be very realistic and the student must take it reasonably serious. (I wanted to do one with Stephen, but he was all booked up so I didn’t get a chance at it).
9. Practice in your head It's been proven that you can improve your ability to perform coordinated tasks by imagining doing them.
10. Examiners are only human. Your test is one of possibly eight on the examiners sheet that day. Don’t try to please him/her.
11. You do not need to be perfect. Concentrate on the essentials. If you make a mistake, keep calm and concentrate on your driving. The mistake may not result in failure.
12. Don’t worry about silence in the car. It can be daunting sitting beside a stranger, who seems to just grunt: 'turn right, turn left'. Avoid thinking the examiner doesn’t like you. If there is a little chit-chat, be happy, but don’t expect it.
13. You will pass. Both instructor and pupil must be convinced that the result will be a pass. An attitude ‘lets have a go at it’ may produce a pass, but is exhausting on the nerves.
14. Don’t take pills to calm your nerves. This only slows your reaction and performance.
15. Get a good night's sleep before the test.

12 THINGS TO DO ON THE DAY OF YOUR TEST

1. Think positively. As soon as you get up in the morning, tell yourself that you are going to get through the day calmly.
2. Make sure you eat a good breakfast. Even though you may be nervous and have lost your appetite eating breakfast is very important. Research has shown that your brain needs food to concentrate, so give yourself some food for thought!
3. Dress comfortably Make yourself feel good.
4. Arrive in plenty of time You should be present in the test centre at least ten minutes before the appointed time of your test. If you are late the test will be cancelled, and the fee will be forfeited.
5. Drink Water just before you enter the test centre - but not much. Just enough to relax. Drinking water helps you relax and provides oxygen to the brain. This helps you stay focused. But don’t drink too much of water or you might feel the need to make use of the toilet.
6. Just before the test Relax by taking a few slow deep breaths. Clench and then relax your muscles to relieve tension.
7. Remember that some nervousness is normal and that it can improve your performance.
8. Listen carefully to the examiner's instructions Act on them in good time, and ask for them to be repeated if necessary.
9. Give the examiner a beautifully smooth drive, one that both of you can enjoy. The examiner just wants to see what you would normally do - nothing that you do not already know.
10. If you make a decision that you think could be misjudged by the examiner, explain your reasons while you drive.
11. If you come across a new situation Hold back and assess it carefully before you decide to proceed - and be prepared to change your decision if necessary.
12. Say your prayers if you believe in God.

Do everything you can to get to the highest standard possible before going in to take your test – extra lessons, lots of practice and time spent reading the road as a passenger will all help you raise your game and feel more confident about your test.

By the evening before your test your instructor will have taught you all he can and believe you’re ready to pass. You are ready to pass. All you need to do is believe in yourself and by this time tomorrow you’ll be the proud owner of your very own driving licence! All the time, money and stress will have been worth it.

If I could do it -then anyone could do it. I remember Renjith, Aswin, Aloshi and Chinnan holding on to their lives when I started to drive back in India. :)

Ramblings of a Lazy Mind

Wishing all my readers a belated Happy New year. Hmm, I must be the last person on earth to wish someone a happy new year. Well,

I’ve been so lazy about this blog recently. I promise I will do a proper update soon and then try and keep it a little more regularly.

There’s so many things I want to write about so I’ll try and get them sorted in my head and scribble them down. As for now, all my thoughts are concentrated on my Irish Driving Test tomorrow. I am cent percent confident, but the tester needs to feel confident that I could do it. Fingers crossed……

Wish me luck please.

The sport of Kings

Off late all my attention was on reading than writing, and as usual I am back after a gap. I am a bit upset when I sit down to write this post and it took me a couple of days to finish this. You would all know why when you have read this. I would be doing injustice to myself if I do not write about this.

Last Sunday, while volunteering for the Irish Red Cross, I watched the first 'Horse Race of my Life'. Horse racing is also known as 'the sport of kings', full of glamour, effort and thrilling competition. Prior to this I have only seen the game on TV.

I'm not a religious right moral values propaganda spewer, but I don't like gambling at all. So, I have never been keen on watching the sport. I especially don't like when gambling is sanctioned by the state. It leads to the wrong type of environment and that's not what people needs. Get these people good jobs for crying out loud. Oh, and I don't believe in betting on horse races either but alas, that's one that I probably would never win. I don't even like playing the Lotto. Don’t call me a pessimist for saying this. But I do play Lotto at times when I see my wife working her head out trying to figure out the winning combination. Can you imagine if the money people spent on gambling was actually used to fix some of the problems we have? Yeah we would not have anymore millionaires and billionaires but we'd have people with a stronger foundation and a brighter future.

It was still fun, though, and the horses are just beautiful. Pure, solid muscle. So the last weekend was not a total waste even with all the rain. But few of the thoroughbred racehorses that gallop their elegant way around the racecourses of Ireland every week are left to see out their days grazing in golden pastures. For thousands of the thoroughbreds that are too old, too slow or not good enough jumpers, the end is brutal: a bullet through the temple or a metal bolt into the side of the brain.

They call it 'putting the horse down'. I witnessed three horses fall and was told that they would be put down. I know it is extremely expensive for a horse to recover from an accident like this, and the poor animal would need to be put in a sling or something until it had fully healed. I am also aware that it would be extremely difficult to put the horse on its side, yet I'm highly skeptical at the claims that there would have been no way to save it.

We keep humans on life support when they are all but brain-dead... we spend thousands trying to keep the terminally ill breathing as long as possible... We scream and object to allowing people to simply die if they wish to end their suffering.... yet we turn a blind eye to this cruelty. Animals that could live for more than 30 years are put to death before they turn 5 or 10.

These horses earn their owners millions, but the owners do not want to spend money on the recovery of the horse. There's something very wrong about all of this.

Fun, was it?

It’s been almost three weeks since Irish voters have strongly endorsed the European Union's Lisbon Treaty - 16 months after their first vote rejecting it plunged EU reforms into deadlock. About 67% voted "Yes", official results from the latest referendum showed. The treaty - which is aimed at streamlining decision-making in the 27-nation bloc - cannot take effect until all 27 member states ratify it. According to final results, 67.1% of Irish voters approved it, while 32.9% voted "No". Turnout in the three-million electorate was 58%.

Ireland was the only EU member state to hold a referendum on Lisbon, though there have been calls for referendums in several countries.

Lisbon 2 delivered more thrills, spills and laughs than most sequels, and offered us a revealing glimpse into the state of the national psyche in 2009. This latter point was one of the more sobering aspects of the campaign, as, if the evidence presented is anything to go by, we would all appear to rarely be more than one or two irrational beliefs away from going over the edge.

Otherwise reasonably sane people seemed to completely lose the run of themselves as the clock ticked down to polling day. No one seemed immune to the Lisbon hysteria. Even people who are known to the the epitome of controlled calm lost the plot.

And it wasn’t just the professional political classes who were adversely effected. How many pub conversations in the weeks leading up to the poll descended into arguments about the merits of a yes or no vote? Friends of long-standing exchanged many a harsh word, and, if you believe the anecdotal evidence, people had to agree not to talk about it if they wanted to remain civil with each other.

Some of the worst of the browbeating took place on social networking sites like Face book. Lengthy posts from people pleading with their friends to vote a certain way were commonplace. Not only was it annoying, it was also something much worse – condescending. Typically, these posts weren’t about encouraging people to inform themselves, instead the core message was an appeal for readers to come to their senses and vote as the poster demanded. The sometimes random CAPPING of words only served to add to the impression of a whole cohort of PEOPLE having gone completely MAD.

This would have been more remarkable if it hadn’t all happened before. Yes, Lisbon 2 was a sequel, but in terms of the temporary psychosis it induced, it wasn’t a successor to the first Treaty vote. The first Lisbon campaign was unhinged in its own right, but was much more intense this time out, tapping into our capacity for rabid irrationality in a way that is almost unprecedented.

Families and friends divided, raised voices in pubs, no uninformed opinion left unvoiced, unimpeachable certainty on both sides, blanket coverage across television, radio and the news papers… Does any of that sound familiar? The Face book parallel would probably hold up too, were it not for the fact that social networking websites had not taken hold here by 2002.

So, is there anything we can learn from all this? Perhaps it’s that if we spend less time being so convinced about the things we believe, we might be able to listen to what others say. Perhaps it’s that we need to appreciate that if someone disagrees with us, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they’re wrong. Or may be it’s this damn, we could have won that match or whatever.

Click here to read more about Lisbon Treaty.

When Luck favours you :

 

Many say the man in the video escaped because of faster legs. I would still say it’s luck. What else can explain this. He has been plain lucky. Had he started crossing one or two seconds later, he might have ended up dead. Fortunately for him, that didn’t happen. Be careful when you cross the road. Look right and left. Get back to the basics.