Today was meant to be the day I was resuming my driving activities, after a mere 20 years gap in practicing! And it DIDN’T HAPPEN!
Living in LA is great, the weather is fab, the people seem nice (So far) but their public transport system sucks and lags 50 years behind and one thing that one can’t live without is a  car and a drivers license!
20 years ago, I started working on my drivers license, back in France, like any other young 17-18  years old did but did not complete the process due to a little motorbike crash, close to the day of my written test. The crash itself wasn’t bad. We just slipped on the road, went back on the bike and carried on to my friend “Gob’s†and thought we would carry on with our night. Sadly, I had “scratched†my knee and required many stitches to try to cover this patella of mine. Not the end of the world.
The story continues when a couple of days after my cast was removed (they had to put a cast in place to avoid the stitches to pop every time I bent my leg), I decided to go a pay a visit to a friend of mine who was then hospitalized for a minor intervention. And then, shit happened! I simply slipped on a small step at the entrance of the hospital and ended up with a lovely set of torn ligament in the knee that hadn’t bent for a couple of weeks. At least, I managed to walk to the A&E (ER) and got seen straight.
The result was simple. I was too dangerous to myself and the surgeon decided I had to stay on a bed for a couple of days before he could explore the knee in more details, which I then agreed with. The dude simply forgot to tell me he had a vacation booked and was shooting off on the following day for 2-3 weeks, which I spent in the bloody hospital! Which meant that I had to definitely put my driving class on hold and wait until I could walk again to resume my activities.
After a week or so, I was joined in hospital by several friends  of mine who just got involved in some sever car crash and were treated for various fractures, lacerations and other fun things that added to the fact I wasn’t really keen any more to learn the driving thing.
From then on, I passed my baccalaureate, left my home town and moved to Dijon for a couple of years, not needing a car. I moved then to Paris where the “Metro†is fabulous and cheap and almost no-one I knew then had a car simply because of the various costs (including the many parking tickets) and the fact that we were students.
There was as well this episode of my army time (conscription in France at the time). I drove a couple of jeeps here and there (mainly to go out and to buy cigarettes), ambulances but I must have been the only guy who didn’t get to pass his license while dressed in green. The reason? Simple. I caught the best friend of the guy in charge of approving the process, smuggling medically retired shoes  (due to fungus and other funny things you can find in a shoe) to flee markets and third parties, at a profit as you can guess… The result was simple. The guy’s career was a mess and my driver’s license authorization got filled in the trash can… Next?!
Life 2.0 arrived and I ended up in London where the “Tube†is everywhere and I didn’t plan to learn to drive on the “Wrong†side of the road…
Which leads us to TODAY! Los Angeles! I have to drive! I am stuck between the office and home and am still just a pedestrian. We so far live close enough from the office that I can walk, but by this weekend, this’ll be all over and I’ll be stuck!
So last Friday, I passed my Californian Written Test (and succeeded) and my FIRST ever lesson was booked for today.
I got up early, Sarah even went out to buy us a McDonalds breakfast to brighten the day. I was getting ready when my phone rung and I was told that my lesson had to be cancelled because the teacher had to go by the office…
So, it is not the end of the world, but after 20 years, now that I am ready for it, they can’t even make it!!!
Gutted!
End of grump!
