Recreation

I was going to drive a car without an instructor for the first time last Sunday. I was scared to be frank. The thing that sacred me the most was the amount of money I would lose if I end up in an accident and yes as usual “final destination”. I somehow made up my mind to give it a go.It was a white Nissan Nido.It looked quite new. I was hoping it would stay the same way for a couple of more days.
I should say I eased into driving. My friend beside me was a good calming influence. In a couple of minutes I was on the “Story bridge”. I really felt proud when I parked the car only problem being both the indicators kept glowing for no reasonJ. In the ten minutes that we trying to put the indicators off it felt like as though were on a helicopter. There were so many buttons around. God! Finally my friend managed to find the right button. Phew! That was a relief.
We decided to head towards the sunshine coast. We thought the GPS would help us with the route. But if anything it was a distraction. After a bit of driving in the city trying to figure out how to get to the free way leading to sunshine coast we decided to head towards gold coast as it appeared simpler. In 5 minutes we were on the free way. Clocking 80 km/hr, I started feeling comfortable.
I changed lanes to exercise my driving skills. I suppose this irked the other drivers. Some honked (I am told that’s as good as swearing). Some people had some kind words to say. I didn’t hear any. After all I am from north Chennai. Some waved fingers at me. No, No! They don’t belong to AIADMK. But I believe it would make a good political party symbol. My other friend got a bit restless. He started nagging me right through, asking me to stay on course even if I didn’t drift away from my lanes. I did not let anything distract me. I am pretty sure, after a long long time I was concentrating on something. Concentrating on the job at hand (To save my money and to save to other lives on the car) I wanted to stay below the speed limit of 110 but I clocked 120km/hr at one point of time. Not consciously, though.
Finally we reached surfers paradise. An 80km drive. It felt great. Worth all the risk I had taken. We parked the car and strolled along the roads of gold coast. I was very worried for the car (God knows why). I was worried it might be a no parking zone. I was worried that someone else might crash against it in which case I will have to shell out money even though I am not responsible. All these thoughts got to me and I urged my friends to have lunch in the car itself. Height of pessimism isn’t it? Journey back home was also interesting. Barring an incident when the hand brakes got stuck it was awesome. Job well done!!! I was tired. But there was a deep sense of relief and satisfaction. It was indeed a trip for the car and not on the car.
I desperately want to buy a car now. Any good suggestions are welcome.