Trucker

I am a qualified lorry driver!

As part of my course we had to get our C1 driving licence so that we could drive the ambulance. So instead of them giving us an ambulance to learn in they gave us a HUGE lorry. It was massive. 

On Sunday when we started I was petrified, I have never driven anything bigger than a ford focus, my car is a little Corsa and I am comfortable in my little bubble. It took me a few minutes to take in just how big the steering wheel was! I'm not a very confident driver anyway, especially in places that I don't know I just panic and get flustered, so driving around strange places in a mammoth lorry it was safe to say I was out of my comfort zone.

We went straight out onto the main roads too which surprised me. I expected to drive around an industrial estate for a while and just get used to starting, stopping, steering and the sheer size of the vehicle. But nono within 5 minutes of driving I was on the motorway.

I now have no much more respect for lorry drivers. I don't think people will quite understand until you drive one yourselves, just how much more you have to think about all the time. The steering is so difficult, the gears are a pain in the butt and the amount of time you have to spend checking your mirrors and blind spots is unreal. Cars just don't care about you, they cut you up, go into your lane, don't give you enough time or space and generally make a nuisance of themselves. 

Getting into my car now feels like the strangest thing, it just feels soo small and almost pathetic. I'm so low down to the ground and the gear stick is so small. In the lorries you always pull of in 2nd. I've been caught out a few times in my car starting in 2nd which it will cope with but it lets me know its not right by kindly screaming at me. Tonight I nearly went into a wall because I kept putting my car into 2nd gear instead of reverse.... whoops!

This is what I've been cruising around in all week...

So next time you see a lorry and decide to cut him up, squeeze through a gap or get annoyed because your stuck behind one DONT. 

Flossy x