Readers,
I am pleased to finally be able to say that i have passed my driving test at the 5th time of asking.
It was a stressful, painful and expensive three years but the elation i feel right now means that it was thoroughly worth it and I would like to share some of the wisdom that I have learnt from my three years as a learner driver per chance that it may save you time, money and the embarassment of not passing the driving test first time or at least within the first three goes (it starts getting ridiculous after three).
My first piece of advice is to start learning as soon as you turn 17 or can afford it. Do not delay it for any reason if you can afford to learn financially and actually want a license rather than believe in not driving to save the planet or for other personal reasons. The simple reason being that your mind is a lot sharper to being able to learn new skills when you are younger and by delaying it will only mean you have to take more lessons to reach the same level of skill required to pass the test.
My second piece of advice is to book your theory test within a few weeks of starting your driving lessons. Do not get ready for your practical before booking your theory! There are two reasons for this:
i) I am not fully convinced you can even really be ready for your practical unless you know your theory because while 90% of theory is a load of common sense anyway - the 10% relating to road signs and road markings is impossible to live without.
ii) there can be a waiting list to do the theory and so you might end up doing your practical 3 months after you feel ready because you wanted to wait to feel ready for it before even doing your theory!
This would mean you continue three months of lessons while ready for the test wasting money on lessons you dont need or going into the test not having had regular lessons leading into it for the prvious three months. Neither of these is ideal.
(For anyone who has booked a theory test and would like any help preparing for it, feel free to email me on moostee90@hotmail.com and i will be happy to assist as much as possible - i spent 90 quid in a month on three tests to get the job done and hate the dsa fleecing money of learner motorists so happy to try to help our battle against the common enemy!)
iii) Be pro-active! Do not think that your one hour lesson a week for 6 months will get you where you need to be on its own. When walking the streets or sitting on busses or sitting in cars being driven, be observant! Pay attention to road signs, road markings and road layouts. Make it so that seeing speed limit signs, one way steeet signs, no entry signs, bend in the road signs etc etc are alllll second nature for you. Learn to look out for road markings and road signs telling you which lane goes straight ahead and which bend to the right or left. Chances are your instructor will not spoon feed this part to you and will kind of expect you to 'get it' yourself.
iv) Know the syllabus - there are only set things you have to do on the driving test and you should know all of them so there are no surprises. Be completely confident on performing ALL the things on the syllabus so nothing is left to chance. Driving for 40 minutes when you have nothing to concentrate on except for the road ahead should mean you do your best drive because after you pass your test - the road ahead will be mixed in with your thoughts about what you will eat for dinner, what your favorite football team might do in the match tonight etc etc. Also, the manner in which you drive during lessons and the test is the safest way. If you cannot go 40 minutes without producing one major error when driving in this prescribed manner, how do you expect to cope when you are left to your own devices?
v) Be confident. If you are not confident, then why do you want to take the test? If you fail, you have wasted time and money and if you pass - then you are allowed to drive on your own. If you are not a good driver, then why do you want to drive on your own putting yourself and others at risk? I felt like a good driver for around 6 months now and feel the biggest blessing was failing my first test 2 years ago - i did not know how to drive well back then and didnt know how bad i was till near my second test.
finally, if anyone would like any further thoughts or advice on their driving test, feel free to drop me a line. It is something that proved the cause of great distress for me for a long time and it would be an honour for me if i could help relieve the distress of not knowing how to drive from others.
That is all for today
Peace
Sunday 30 August 2009
Saturday 22 August 2009
nightly ablution
Readers,
First of all i would like to confess that one of the habits i chose for myself has kind of been left aside for two weeks. The habit in question is unfortunately the habit of reading and the reason this has happened is that i was finding large parts of the book i was reading very boring and was forcing myself to read.
In addition to this, i have been reading stuff online... but i know i need to re-ignite this habit at some stage soon - ideally by picking up something i will actually enjoy reading as well as benefit from educationally.
As many of you will also know, ramadan is starting either today or tomorrow subject to the sighting of the moon. Therefore it is a month of great opportunity to have our sins wiped out and replaced with good deeds and our bad habits to be replaced with good habits.
I dont believe i am capable of reforming my whole character through ramadan which is why i have opted for the one small change every 10 days.
In line with this new ideology, the next habit i will incorporate is the habit of performing the ablution before sleeping every night for the next 10 nights.
The benefit of going to sleep in ablution is that God rewards the person who does this as though he has stayed awake the whole night worshipping Allah.
I will be back in 10 days to add a new habit
by the way, the challenge of adding quality rather than merely routine to the habit of praying has been reasonably successful - but i think its really important to add complete isolation to the equation... praying with a closed door and not being able to see things from the corner of your eyes like your laptop or mobile phone would make a massive diffeence.
i need to look into this in more detail. The important thing is recognising the problems and slowly working towards solutions which will last a lifetime insha allah rather than try to do every life change in one day and fall flat on your face within a few days and then bein unable to make any changes at all.
That is all for today
Peace
First of all i would like to confess that one of the habits i chose for myself has kind of been left aside for two weeks. The habit in question is unfortunately the habit of reading and the reason this has happened is that i was finding large parts of the book i was reading very boring and was forcing myself to read.
In addition to this, i have been reading stuff online... but i know i need to re-ignite this habit at some stage soon - ideally by picking up something i will actually enjoy reading as well as benefit from educationally.
As many of you will also know, ramadan is starting either today or tomorrow subject to the sighting of the moon. Therefore it is a month of great opportunity to have our sins wiped out and replaced with good deeds and our bad habits to be replaced with good habits.
I dont believe i am capable of reforming my whole character through ramadan which is why i have opted for the one small change every 10 days.
In line with this new ideology, the next habit i will incorporate is the habit of performing the ablution before sleeping every night for the next 10 nights.
The benefit of going to sleep in ablution is that God rewards the person who does this as though he has stayed awake the whole night worshipping Allah.
I will be back in 10 days to add a new habit
by the way, the challenge of adding quality rather than merely routine to the habit of praying has been reasonably successful - but i think its really important to add complete isolation to the equation... praying with a closed door and not being able to see things from the corner of your eyes like your laptop or mobile phone would make a massive diffeence.
i need to look into this in more detail. The important thing is recognising the problems and slowly working towards solutions which will last a lifetime insha allah rather than try to do every life change in one day and fall flat on your face within a few days and then bein unable to make any changes at all.
That is all for today
Peace
Tuesday 11 August 2009
quality of habits
Readers,
The last couple of months i have found myself reflecting on the quality of how i carry out my habits rather than be pleased that i am merely routinely carrying them out.
I have come to find that while i am generally happy, I want to add three small habits to help improve the quality of my prayers.
i) When at home - have a separate item of clothing to change into which is kept only for praying. It takes 2 minutes to change my clothes before praying but it is guaranteed to help concentration in prayer because you have mentally taken a much more positive approach to the etiquette and importance of the task that is about to be performed. When at work, at least make the effort to roll my sleeves back down and do the buttons so that my arms are not exposed and i am dressed smartly.
ii) Apply a little perfume before the prayer.
iii) As a shi'ite, i believe it is recommended to wear a ring when praying so keep a ring inside the prayer mat at home and make the effort to put my ring back on my finger after wudhu at work.
I believe these three simple things will help me focus better on the gravity and importance of prayer and provide the platform for me to perform them in a manner which it should be performed in.
As always, the challenge is for 10 days after which time i try to add another one.
Peace
The last couple of months i have found myself reflecting on the quality of how i carry out my habits rather than be pleased that i am merely routinely carrying them out.
I have come to find that while i am generally happy, I want to add three small habits to help improve the quality of my prayers.
i) When at home - have a separate item of clothing to change into which is kept only for praying. It takes 2 minutes to change my clothes before praying but it is guaranteed to help concentration in prayer because you have mentally taken a much more positive approach to the etiquette and importance of the task that is about to be performed. When at work, at least make the effort to roll my sleeves back down and do the buttons so that my arms are not exposed and i am dressed smartly.
ii) Apply a little perfume before the prayer.
iii) As a shi'ite, i believe it is recommended to wear a ring when praying so keep a ring inside the prayer mat at home and make the effort to put my ring back on my finger after wudhu at work.
I believe these three simple things will help me focus better on the gravity and importance of prayer and provide the platform for me to perform them in a manner which it should be performed in.
As always, the challenge is for 10 days after which time i try to add another one.
Peace
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