Training Day 10 – Driving and Studying

(this was written a day late)

Not a good day.

I arrived (05.30 as normal) determined to not make any mistakes. Within 10 minutes of driving I had made 3. Not major mistakes but small ones, for example, not noticing a “Left Turn on Red Permitted After Stopping” sign.

I then rode ‘shotgun’ while my trainer did a number of scheduled routes.

After the meal break (about 09.15 for 40 minutes), my trainer had other administrative work to do so I sat in the lunch room reviewing the various manuals I have been given. I did this until finish time (14.30). It wasn’t a complete waste as I did learn something. Also, and importantly, a number of the drivers came over to ask how my training was going, etc. They seemed genuinely interested and gave me encouragement.

All the training is on a one-to-one basis. The problem with this is I don’t have any peers to compare myself with. My trainer seems reluctant to offer me this kind of feedback. He is very quick to tell me my mistakes but rarely tells me when I do something right.

An aside: I drove my car on the weekend and I found it difficult to do. Driving the bus I know where the left hand side of the vehicle is by looking in the left hand rear view mirror. The corresponding mirror in the car is not designed the same way so I had difficulty judging how to place the car in the lane of the road. Also, I was taking corners ‘wide’ as I have to with the bus because of its length.