March 2012 - Driving - (a Car this time)

I hadn't driven a car since I went off on sick leave, 8 months of not driving, and I hadn't really thought about it really until one day when I visited Holland for my brothers surprise leaving party, when we were in the car at night and suddenly a whole host of street lights merged into a sort of chain of light, the light bulbs had become circles and started interconnecting like the Olympic rings almost.

Why hadn't I noticed it before?? I don’t know, maybe that this time I sat on the side of where I would normally sit to drive in the UK, with the steering wheel being on a different side in Holland, it might have been the issue… I don’t know, but I noticed it and it freak me out….

I had over-time, before going on leave, noticed that driving, especially at night or during twilight, wasn't one of my favourite things to do anymore.

It actually had started to scare me slightly.. Making up excuses to not pick up my girlfriend from work when I worked from home, looking at getting somewhere by train instead of the car, but still driving… against better judgment…

none the less, when my sight was coming back due to these RGP lenses, I did have some hope I would be able to drive again, but wasn't counting on it, and had accepted that, if not, well, then not…

However, after finally having settled on the last pair of lenses that worked for me, and being told, go and live your life, it’s all good and come back next year, unless something happens. I also got told my sight was apparently good enough to drive again… (yes!!!!)

So, when I got home, I started the car…. and it didn't start… )-:

Obviously….. it had been standing along the road for the last 8 months with not much action apart from getting its MOT done 2 months before. No doubt the Battery hadn't liked this non-movement, and emptied itself, and to be fair, it was old anyway, and probably should’ve been replaced anyway… so first that had to be sorted…

Anyway, the next day.. I had gotten a new battery from a garage just across the road, and placed it in, and started the car… Yes!!!!!  It worked… so now… putting in the damn thing into gear and go for a spin…

Man, that was weird, my heart was beating like I don’t know what, adrenaline rushing through my body like there was no tomorrow, and all I had done was drive to the Petrol station…

After having filled up the tank and gathered my senses, I decided to drive on instead of just returning home, and it actually went pretty good indeed… I did not have any blurry vision or un-sharpness, there was a little bit of the two cyclists in the distance turning into one cyclist when I got closer, but was that a problem or not?

I mean, once you know that’s the case, you can work with that, and when I say distance I mean "Distance", as in more than half the length of a football pitch away from me..

And I noticed it was only on narrow and small things.. Not with cars or anything bigger… all in all it went much better than I had hoped, and more importantly probably better than the last time I had driven. 

A good start...


"I Stopped To Fill My Car Up" - Stereophonics

i stopped to fill my car up 
the car felt good that day 
i didn't know where i was going 
but it felt good for a change 
a five and a pocket full of silver 
i paid the lady no change 
and then it started to piss down 
i started driving again 
and then i looked up 
and looked in the mirror behind me 
a man round forty in the back seat 
must have stepped in when i was empty 
so why's he sat there just waiting 
likely to smash my face in 
he had a bag full of money 
he said just drive me away 
i didn't know where i was going 
yet it felt good to be strange 
and still i look up 
and look in the mirror behind me 
curiosity is over 
he stepped down from the car 
he pulled a gun from his jacket 
said i was going to die 
it gives me so much satisfaction 
to watch you beg and cry 
well i just made up this story 
to get your attention makes me smile 
i never looked up or looked 
in the mirror behind me