It’s been a loooooong weekend. Katy’s been working 12-14 hour night-sit shifts since Friday night so she’s knackered, and she seems to be coming down with a bug, which isn’t helping her energy levels. It’s still a transitional process, but I’m finding it a bit rough to not see her these days. It seems that we’ve only had three night in the past month when she hasn’t been working, and two of those were in Leicester. She leaves shortly after I get in from work, so we have maybe 15-20 minutes to chat a bit before she has to get ready. I generally put beastie to bed and then spend the evening cooking and watching TV. When she’s not working night-sits, she comes home between 10:30 and 11:30, so we might have another 15-20 minutes to chat, but by then we’re both tired so we just go to bed. I’m sure we’ll both get into the routine of things.
The beastie is just being a beastie and is into everything, biting everything, throwing everything, climbing everything and scratching everything that shouldn’t be scratched. I discovered that he can climb into his high-chair by himself during one of those “it’s too quiet” moments. He was sitting happily next to the fridge eating my fridge magnets. Oy, vey.
I had my first motorcycle lesson this weekend, the Compulsory Bike Training (CBT) course. It gives very high-level pointers on maintenance, controls, maneuvers, road safety and the like. I’m doing the course with Joe and he said it best when he said that it feels like it’s too much to take in at once and the best way to get everything to become automatic (like it is for him to drive a car) is to get out on the road and do it. That’s actually a bit intimidating, but I’m looking forward for more.
The day started out with a bit of stress because I had to pass a field eye exam. Now I know that this sounds dodgy, but I knew where they kept the fixed-distance license plate they use and I already knew what was written on it, but all of that went out the window when the guy said “just read the plate on either of the cars at the end of the parking”. I took a deep breath and said what I saw. The dude squinted a bit and said “yeah, that’ll do”. HAPPY DANCE!!!
Joe and I didn’t go on the road on Saturday, even though a road ride is normally part of the CBT. That’s because we’re doing the direct access course that will allow us to ride bikes bigger than 125cc. We’re going to be doing the rest of our lessons on 500cc bikes that require a things be done a bit differently than with the smaller, lighter bikes. The other guy who was on the course with us, a loudmouth Ozzie who will someday wrap himself and the 1100cc crotch rocket he wants to get around a tree, was only doing the CBT and went on a ride. I find it a bit mind-boggling that, in most cases, people are let loose on the road for unaccompanied riding after only 6 hours of training on a bike that can do 70 mph with very little difficulty – without even needing a theory test. Still, that’s how things work here apparently and who am I to question a system that will actually let me drive :D
It is a lot to process, the things you need to unconsciously think about to be able to drive safely. The good news is that they seem very competent teachers and they’re very safety oriented. Still, I’m a bit humbled to say that I expected it to be easier. Anyway, I have a feeling that if all goes well, I’m going to be very proud of myself for accomplishing a goal that I’ve always thought impossible to achieve. Go me.
