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driving school

Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail

I think of myself as a smart, independent woman.

At age 27, I have two degrees from two Canadian universities. I work hard and take pride in being single and self-sufficient. I've built strong, meaningful relationships with the people around me, and I pay my bills on time. What I mean to say is, I think I'm pretty alright.

But for the last 10 years, I've been carrying the weight of a terrible, embarrassing burden.

I can't drive.

In her first blog entry, our driving student's confidence is tested on the first day of school

That's why, for the next six or seven weeks, I'll finally be doing what I should have done a long time ago. I'll be taking driving lessons. First, I'll complete the humiliating task of joining a classroom full of 16- and 17-year olds for in-class lessons. Then, I'll move on to the much more exciting - and terrifying - in-car driving lessons. You're invited to come along for the ride, as I blog my way through the entire process on GlobeDrive.com.

Growing up in Toronto's west end, I never needed to drive. The subway was just a few blocks away, and I loved the independence it provided me. When my bewildered parents wondered why I hadn't taken an interest in driving like the other kids in the neighbourhood, I couldn't give them a straight answer. Like my attitude toward high school and adolescence in general, I just didn't care.

When I moved to Halifax to go to university, I flirted with activism, and acquired a bike that I could ride to the protests and environmental advocacy meetings I attended. It was also a (sort of) legal way to get home from the city's many bars, which is where I ended up many times. Whenever my friends and I organized a road trip to Cape Breton or the South Shore, I leaned on my pals to do the driving. They'd roll their eyes at my ineptitude, but they drove.

But there have also been more than a few occasions when I really wished I could drive. I hate having to ask a man to do something for me, but I've had to ask a boyfriend to rent and drive a truck for me so I could move apartments on more than one occasion. Or when I needed a new couch, I had to call on a guy friend to help me pick it up. It hurts my pride that I have to depend on other people whenever a car is involved. I can do my own taxes, fix my own computer and landscape my backyard; I should have figured this one out a long time ago.

Don't get me wrong. I still love riding my bike. Or at least I did, until it was stolen from my porch last summer. But I don't love the time I got the "door-prize" a couple of years ago, which resulted in a painful sprained wrist. And I don't look back affectionately on the time my bike got stuck in the streetcar tracks on Queen Street, and I found myself sprawled on the pavement, bruised and bloodied. I certainly don't love the middle fingers thrown in my direction by hostile drivers, although it can be pretty satisfying thrusting one back sometimes.

And of course, like a good student should, I've been doing a some preparation. A few weeks ago, a good friend took me to a parking lot near the CNE to teach me the basics of driving standard. He was a calm and helpful teacher, but he winced in pain every time I made the car stall, and got frustrated when I couldn't even get the car into first gear after a few tries.

When he dropped me off across the street from my house, I stood behind his car, waiting to cross the road, feeling defeated. All of a sudden, something big and powerful knocked me from one side. It was the back of my buddy's car.

He hadn't seen me behind him, and after making me feel like a hopeless idiot, he'd backed into his unsuspecting student. Luckily, I wasn't hurt - and I got to tell everyone we know the next day.

I'm hoping that the driving school blog will be a two-way street. I want to hear all about your driving woes and successes, and your opinions about driving in general. How can we become better drivers? How can we prevent accidents, decrease the time we spend in our cars and enjoy driving while keeping pedestrians and cyclists safe?

But to be honest, I'm actually doing this selfishly. I'm finally ready to do this, but I'll need your support. I know if I have Globe and Mail readers as witnesses, there's absolutely no way I can quit. What tips can you offer on, say, the dreaded parallel park?

I'm confident that I will be successful, although I know it will be difficult. As I told some friends over dinner recently, "If Snooki and the entire cast of Jersey Shore can drive, I can definitely learn how to drive. Right?"

Right.

In her first blog entry, our driving student's confidence is tested on the first day of school

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